


•y^ 






t-o"* 



lO 



.0 





^*^^ A <* 



uS 



S. S. U. 585 

YALE AMBULANCE UNIT WITH THE 
FRENCH ARMY 

1917-1919 



RECORD 



OF 



S. S. U. 585 



PREPARED FOR THE UNIT BY 

GEORGE J. SHIVELY 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 



PRINTED FOR THE UNIT 

By E. L. HILDRETH & CO. 

UNDER THE DIRECTION OF 

THE BRICK ROW BOOK SHOP, Inc. 
1920 



% 






STAFF 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 
George Shively 

EDITORS 
Lauren D. Lyman Erland A. Lundgren 

Clarence I. Bradley George D. Butler 

BUSINESS MANAGER 
Clarence I. Bradley 

ASSISTANTS 
Warren T. Clifford Howard P. Potter 



DEDICATION 

IN AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE 

WE DEDICATE THIS BOOK 

TO THE 128th FRENCH DIVISION 

Les Loups du Bois le Pretre. 



FOREWORD 

This book is formless but Ave hope not void. Done 
in the interludes and aftermath of battle, it but 
haltingly expresses the spirit that inspires it. We 
publish it with neither illusion nor apology. In- 
tended primarily for the Section, but incidentally 
for the Section's friends, may it prove a touchstone 
to memory or an echo of comradeship known through 
the bitter-sAveet days of war. 

The Editors 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Section History . . . . • 1 

GEORGE SHIVELY 

The "Medecin Divisionnaire" ... 90 

LIEUT. JOHN R. ABBOT 

Pinard ....••• 93 

GUY BOWERMAN 

La Petite Voiture . . . . • . 98 

Merci, Adele 100 

Tha Man 101 

NORMAN HUBBARD 

Contrasts . . . • • .103 

CLARENCE BRADLEY 

The Poilu 108 

TED LARRABEE 

"Gravy" 118 

"jIm" WEBER 

A Visit to the Trenches .... 124 

DEREK PETERS 

The Ark of the Covenant . . . .127 

"dEAk" LYMAN 

Les Loups du Bois le Pretre . . . 137 

JOHN BEECHER 

Our Billets 144 

"art" LEWIS 



xu 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PAGE 

These Days . . . . . .147 

Dawn 148 

"tony" lundgrex 
Femande ...... 149 

GEORGE BUTLER 

A Yank's Pilgrimage to Domreiny . .156 

ARTHUR MAC C. SHEPARD 

A Bit of French Slang .... 165 

CARLTON BORDEN 

A Permission ...... 176 

KIRBY GREEN 

The Allies Enter Aix . . . .180 

"hOWIe" CAMPBELL 

Charmes to Aumale by Train . . . 184 

JOHN WASILIK 

The Philosopher Speaks . . . .188 

ALBERT PERKINS 

Section Log ...... 193 

GEORGE BUTLER 

Glossary . . . . . . 271 

Appendix ...... 273 

1. Section Citations .... 273 

2. List of Men Decorated, Wounded or 

Gassed 275 

3. Write-up of the "Wolves" (from a 

Paris paper) .... 276 

4. A French Army Order 280 

5. Station List of Unit since Arrival in 

American E. F 282 

6. Complete Roster of S. S. U. 585 . 285 



S. S. U. 585 
1917-1919 



SECTION HISTORY 
By George Shively 

When war was declared most of us were in New 
Haven, paying whatever heed to our studies at Yale 
we thought conducive to our collegiate safety and 
giving the balance of our attention to sports, the 
theatre and the threatening hostilities. When the 
declaration came, all lines drew to a focus atid each 
man asked himself: "What's my job now? Is it up to 
me to enlist — and in what branch? Shall I choose 
the earth or the water or the air? Can I walk better 
than I can dive or fly? And which can I do first?" 

That last was the crux of the question. All roads 
in those days led to France and all of us were look- 
ing for the shortest road. Consequently a certain 
notice published in the Yale News drew general at- 
tention. This announcement stated that a Federal 
Ambulance Service was to be formed, composed of 
units of thirty-five men each, to be drawn from the 
colleges ; that an attempt would be made to keep 
each college unit together — and that in all proba- 
bility the Yale outfit would sail for France in June. 

The shortest road to France — so at least it seemed. 
By the middle of June the Yale unit was ready and 
waiting, but waiting at New Haven, for the story 
of the early June embarkation was merely our first 
military myth. We had enlisted under Major 



2 S. S. U. 585 

Stiles, who kept open house for about a week not far 
from the Campus. Most of us called on him, coming 
direct from the classroom (or the Taft bar) ; a few 
who had put aside childish things left their positions 
in the marts of trade or the high places of industry 
to join the unit from their Alma Mater. The physi- 
cal examination was the one used in the regular army, 
but softened a bit to suit the circumstances. It was 
considered, perhaps erroneously, that a man need 
not be a physical paragon to drive a Ford; at the 
same time none who were lame, halt or blind could 
qualify. A modicum of morality likewise was de- 
manded, though it was not necessary to be a choir- 
boy. As regards age, the theory was eighteen to 
forty-five; in practice only those in first or second 
childhood were rejected. 

Reports became current that our first destination 
would be an ambulance camp, not in France, but at 
Allentown, Pennsylvania. This rumor crystallized 
into fact, and on June 22 we left New Haven, under 
the leadership of Acting Sergeant Henry W. John- 
stone, arriving at Allentown at five in the evening. 

ALLENTOWN 

The hour of our arrival is important because it 
brought home to us for the first time the disturbing 
realization that we were in the army. This realiza- 
tion came through the agency of one of the vilest 
suppers ever set before man since God made the 
world. A melange — literally a melange, mind you — 
on the same greasy tin pan, of salty corned beef and 
forlorn little prunes, mournfully simmering in their 



SECTION HISTORY 3 

juice ! It is the only meal whose like we've never 
longed for at any time in the checkered months since 
then. 

The ambulance camp was installed in the fair 
grounds. The large grandstand was utilized as bar- 
racks, as were most of the exhibition buildings, horse 
stalls and cow sheds. At the time of our arrival 
these various edifices were sufficient to shelter all the 
enlisted men and officers, but later on tents and new 
wooden barracks were set up. 

We drew for our dwelling a choice set of cow 
stalls, elegantly furnished with mouldy straw. 
Fresh from our civilian beds of roses we failed to 
detect any advantages in this Spartan simplicity, 
and during that first cold night at Allentown our 
plaints were loud and long. With Lyman and 
Larkin nobly filling the positions of end men, the 
Section as nobly responded. We ran the whole 
gamut of vituperation, and rang the changes of 
vocalized misery from A to Z. Like Jacob mourning 
for his lost child, we refused to be comforted, and 
with Job we cursed the day we were born. But as 
the cold penetrated and the boards became harder 
under our aching backs, a feeling of futility seized 
us, a haunting sense of the proper word unsaid. 
Our discourse had been sufficiently lurid but not 
sufficiently definite; we had spread abuse over too 
large an area. Gradually the comments became less 
frequent as each man groped for the adequate ex- 
pression, and one by one failed and lapsed into 
silence. At last, when hope was well-nigh gone, a 
deep voice broke the stillness with a pronouncement 



4 S. S. U. 585 

solemn as a prophet's judgment, "God damn the 
Kaiser!" All recognized it as the ideal we'd been 
striving for. It was not blasphemy ; it was the word 
that epitomized all our woes and fixed the ultimate 
responsibility. We sighed with satisfaction and fell 
asleep. Our first night in camp merits this comment 
simply to show what we then considered hardships. 
In view of what the last eighteen months have taught, 
such hardship seems puerile indeed — but to this day 
we stick by the slogan then uttered. 

At the time of our arrival there were some ninety 
sections in camp. We drew number 85. Occupying 
the suite of stalls next to ours was 86, the bunch 
from Berkeley, California, and just as they were 
nearest us in quarters, so were they nearest in our 
affections, and so have they remained ever since. 
But we had many other good friends, and several old 
and dear enemies — Harvard, Princeton and Cornell. 

The morning of June 22 Sergeant Johnstone's 
appointment was ratified by unanimous vote of the 
Section, while J. W. Peters was chosen second 
sergeant and Norman Hubbard corporal. George 
Butler and Warren T. Clifford became the official 
clerks. A little later Gilbert Marcellus and John 
Beecher were appointed mechanics, Albert Perkins 
and Arthur Shepard, cooks ; the rest of us were buck 
privates, but with very advanced views upon dis- 
cipline. Individualism was a popular doctrine in 
the ranks, and we owe it to our officers' sense of 
humor that the first week didn't find us all in the 
guardhouse. The Allentown officers were "good 
fellows," and prince among them was Captain Whit- 



SECTION HISTORY 5 

ney, who first guided our destinies. Captain Whitney 
is now a lieutenant-colonel and we are still buck 
privates, but we have just as much respect for him 
and no more fear of him now than we had then; 
compliments can go no higher in the army. 

Next came Lieutenant Ferguson, affectionately 
known as "Fergie," whose drill tactics were like his 
bandaging — in his own words, "not much on looks 
but hell for stuff." His successor was Lieutenant 
Wharton, the man who never slept. In the cold gray 
dawn of many an Allentown morning he might have 
been seen wandering like an overconscientious ghost 
among the trees, at an hour that made reveille think 
itself a laggard. Nor did an ocean voyage cure him, 
for at St. Nazaire he beat the French government, 
hands down, in setting the clock ahead. 

By the time we got our uniforms camp routine 
had become fixed. Drill, both morning and after- 
noon, with generous intervals for rest, lectures on 
the art of bandaging, care of wounded, safeguards 
against disease, with special talks on camp sanitation 
and personal hygiene, comprised the serious business 
of the day. It is well to mention here the fact that 
the sanitation of the camp was excellent, and the per- 
centage of sick very low. All recruits were inocu- 
lated against typhoid and paratyphoid, as well as 
vaccinated against smallpox. For the excellent 
results, all is owed the earnest, skilful officers who 
directed operations and the generous townspeople 
who seconded their efforts. 

The mess-hall was our greatest grievance. Here 
four thousand hungry men marched to a breakfast of 



6 S. S. U. 585 

dubious eggs and wan, hopeless coffee; four thou- 
sand men marched to a lunch of indestructible meat, 
boiled potatoes and sorghum; four thousand men 
marched to a supper of God knows what — then, after 
retreat, four thousand desperate men marched 
triple-quick to town to get something to eat. Many 
an Allentown recruit remembers with reverence the 
"Philadelphia Restaurant" or, like George Ade, 
would burst into tears at the sight of a "steak a la 
Columbia." 

As the days went by, the different brands of 
genius in Section 85 began to crop out. We found 
a varied assortment, ranging from music and im- 
passioned oratory to hair-cutting and dog-specula- 
tion. Before several audiences Stevens starred with 
the human voice divine, while Deak Lyman swayed 
the crowds and sometimes the neighboring trees with 
his eloquence, or burst the buttons off government 
O. D. with his humor. But it took the unique genius 
of Holbrook to combine the tonsorial art with the 
business of dog-vending, and to make money at both. 
One day he bought and brought to camp a monster 
which he alleged to be a dog, but which looked more 
like a dwarf rhinoceros, though lacking the latter's 
grace and spirituality. He proposed the Section 
adopt the creature as mascot. The noes had it on 
this motion, but permission was granted Holbrook 
to park the rhino near the quarters until he could 
find a bigger fool than himself to take it off his 
hands. The consensus of opinion was that this 
would be impossible, and so it proved for some time. 
In this predicament Holbrook's genius came to light : 



SECTION HISTORY 7 

he organized a lottery — prize, a Yale bulldog ; price, 
one dollar a throw; no peeking before paying. The 
beast was disposed of; Holbrook took in twenty 
dollars and the purchaser. 

During our stay at Allentown the people of the 
city were at all times interested in our progress, and 
most cordial in their attitude. The "big brother" 
policy was instituted; each section was adopted by 
some prominent citizen who made it his special care 
to provide occasional entertainment outside the 
regular camp recreation. Sunday afternoons at the 
fair grounds were enlivened by concerts by the 
Allentown band, while the Y. M. C, A., through 
Song Leader Clarke, furnished amusement in the way 
of music and movies on the evenings throughout the 
week. 

Since our ultimate business was to drive Fords 
it was natural to suppose that we would be given 
some sort of training along this line as well as in 
marching and litter drill. As a matter of fact, we 
were subjected to a trial better calculated to test 
our sense of the ridiculous than our ability to man- 
age a car. About a dozen machines, variously dis- 
eased and ripe for the grave, were set up in the 
rough, hummocky ground enclosed by the race track. 
To add insult to injury and to increase both, these 
senile anachronisms were stripped of every cushion, 
even of every seat that might add a poor pinch of 
comfort to the unfortunate driver. A Ford fully 
dressed is none too decent ; a Ford stripped is an 
abomination before the Lord. The idea was to drive 
once round the field, try our hand at reversing, and 



8 S. S. U. 585 

come to a graceful stop in front of the judges. Well, 
we took the test and passed. Had we used sewing- 
machines to qualify, the proof would have been just 
as conclusive. 

Between the date of the arrival at camp and our 
departure for France the personnel of the Section 
was increased by nine men, some of whom had en- 
listed at cities other than New Haven, some of whom 
had transferred from other sections or from "cas- 
uals." These men were Balmer from 72, Bowerman 
and Cunningham through casuals from 113, Harper 
from 91, Wasem from 88, Tremaine, Lewis, Weber 
and Crane direct from casuals, having enlisted prior 
to or subsequent to the enlistment at New Haven. 
Meanwhile our non-com list had grown, Hubbard 
becoming a sergeant and Tony Lundgren a corporal. 

About the first of August we became certain that 
the date of sailing was near. It proved to be August 
7. At midnight of the sixth we boarded the train 
with great show of secrecy, it being considered ap- 
propriate to take French leave when embarking for 
France. At about ten o'clock the morning of the 
seventh we climbed aboard the San Jacinto at the 
Hoboken Pier. 

THE VOYAGE 

Many a queer craft has sailed the seas since 
Noah's cruise to Mt. Ararat, and possibly, among 
them all, there may have been one more uncomfort- 
able than the San Jacinto. But Section 85 will have 
to be "shown." And in spite of the mixed company 
that Noah took with him, most of us would have pre- 
ferred a steerage passage on the ark to our quarters 



SECTION HISTORY 9 

on the "San Jack." She was an old Mallory Line 
fruit boat, equipped to accommodate perhaps one 
hundred passengers ; in this case she disaccommo- 
dated about thirteen hundred. Ten ambulance sec- 
tions were aboard; the rest of the contingent were 
engineers and regular army troops, who looked upon 
us with a contempt which we considered a bit in- 
congruous, since they were destined for the haz- 
ardous duties of M. P. work in Paris, Bordeaux, etc. 
We bunked in layers of three below the water line. 
Our only consolation was that in case of being tor- 
pedoed we wouldn't have so far to sink as if we'd 
been in the part of the ship usually inhabited by 
human beings. 

The dining-room harmonized perfectly with the 
sleeping quarters. We entered by a ladderlike stair- 
way from the deck, and attempted to enter by every 
other possible orifice, but were usually stopped by 
the guards. Only about one fourth of the ship's 
company could crowd into the messroom at the same 
time, though this fact required daily proof by ex- 
periment. Once in, it was every man for himself, 
and devil take the hindmost. The service was of the 
catch-as-catch-can variety. Frequently a pleasing 
diversion was created by the inruption of a species 
of tidal wave that came from nobody knew where, 
but which was of sufficient volume to disturb us land- 
lubbers, let alone floating the tables away. Barring 
an occasional burnt offering (result of ill-timed 
beauty sleeps on the part of the cooks) or the 
periodical plague of tripe, the food was better than 
its environment. 



10 S. S. U. 585 

At nine o'clock on the evening of the seventh we 
steamed out of harbor, with no lights showing. 
Four ships beside the San Jacinto composed the con- 
voy — the Henderson, the Finland, the Antilles and 
the Lenape. A battleship and two mean-looking 
destroyers formed our escort. The weather through- 
out the entire voyage was beautiful, and the sea, 
except for one day, calm as a pond. A submarine 
watch was strictly maintained, and "abandon-ship" 
drill faithfully practiced. The intervals between 
drills and meals were beguiled by reading, argument 
and that great American help in time of ennui, 
poker. We performed all these diversions squatted 
on the hard decks, yet no one ever complained of 
discomfort from too much sitting, for no one was 
allowed to remain in one place long enough to run 
this risk. "You can't stay there !" became the watch- 
word on board; doubtless it would have been yelled 
at us had we sought refuge in the free blue sea. 

But whatever the cares and irritations of the day, 
the evenings brought solace to all — solace, and per- 
haps just a touch of homesickness. Night after 
night we gathered on the promenade deck, as though 
by tacit agreement. It was the hour when the danger 
from submarines increased, as the evening shadows 
crept over the sea. But very few of us spoke seri- 
ously of that. Our eyes were upon the fleecy shapes 
of the western horizon, and our thoughts winging 
far beyond those sun-shot clouds to the homeland we 
loved, and to the dear ones we were leaving, perhaps 
forever. Careless words were hushed, voices became 
low — no longer the chatter of boys, but the deeper 



SECTION HISTORY 11 

communion of men born to the same heritage of a 
glorious motherland, and destined to the same fate 
of life or death, America, father, mother, brother, 
sister, sweetheart — yes, and the unknown Future — 
all these spoke to us in the silences, and sealed our 
comradeship the firmer. The loves and fears and 
hopes and joys of the days gone by pressed through 
the gates of memory to abide with us in that sunset 
hour, offering us faithful guerdon against the hard 
days to come. Night after night, as the crimson sun 
sank lower, we watched that falling glory over the 
sea, half believing it God's special benediction upon 
our great land of the West. Then, when sh?idow's of 
waves had ceased to dance among the waves, and 
phosphorescent darts began to streak the waters, 
would come the call to quarters. And so our days 
ended. 

We had one great disappointment during the voy- 
age, and one great triumph. The disappointment 
was a section affair ; the triumph concerned the 
entire convoy. Each unit had — or thought it had — 
a chest of chocolate, crackers and tobacco stowed 
away for use when the craving for sweets became 
intolerable. When that moment arrived Section 85 
sought its chest in vain. We could explain the loss 
only upon the supposition that somebody had for- 
gotten the difference between mine and thine — or 
our'n and their'n. Into the depths of our woe Sec- 
tion 86 brought balm by offering to share their box 
with us. Only one who has cried for chocolate and 
been offered a tripe sandwich can appreciate such 
generosity. 



12 S. S. U. 585 

Our triumph was the submarine battle. On the 
seventeenth we were met in the midst of the danger 
zone by six American destroyers, while our other 
escort turned back. The closest patrol was de- 
manded, for the situation was perilous. The San 
Jacinto became the flagship, and top speed was main- 
tained. The gunners were petting their glistening 
charges, keen for a chance at the Boche. On the 
nineteenth one of the destroyers spotted a sub and 
dropped a mine, but the German made away. It was 
from eight o'clock till ten on the morning of the 
twentieth that things happened. The convoy ran 
into a nest of U-boats within sight of the coast of 
Belle Isle. The alarm sounded, the San Jack, the 
Henderson, the Finland, the Antilles, and the Lenape 
scattered with miraculous suddenness, — and the fight 
was on. With the little destroyers darting about like 
terriers chasing rats, the guns began booming, the 
mines dropping, the torpedoes coming — and from our 
various places on deck or at the boats we began to 
pray, now and then interlarding a word of encour- 
agement to the defenders, such as "Atta-boy ! Give 
'em hell !" — then returning to our prayers. To make 
short a story that might have been even shorter, the 
subs failed to hit us, though they missed by only a 
dozen feet; on the other hand, the destroyers ac- 
counted for two U-boats. No one who was on the 
San Jack will ever forget the moment when the depth 
bomb exploded just behind the stern, and the cap- 
tain, thinking we were hit, gave orders to drop the 
boats. During the battle, French aeroplanes had 
come out to see the fun, and they soared low, their 



SECTION HISTORY 13 

pilots waving a welcome to the Yanks. By evening 
we were safe in port at St. Nazaire, and by seven the 
next morning disembarked and on the march to 
camp, two miles from town. 

ST. NAZAIRE 

The Breton seaport that was to be our first French 
home is a city of some thirty-five thousand inhab- 
itants. It has the mingled bustle and shabbiness 
characteristic of seaports, though the broad avenue 
along the harbor passage, from which one can watch 
the tiny fishing boats with their pastel-tinted sails, 
goes far to redeem the ugliness of the downtown 
districts. At this time the old place was quickening 
to a new life with the arrival of troops from America. 
As their numbers grew the United States government 
came more and more into control, and ultimately 
took over the civic management. 

For the first three weeks the camp routine was 
similar to that at Allentown, with the addition of 
French lessons and long hikes into the Breton 
country. We became thoroughly familiar with the 
"shining roads of France," with the hedges and little 
thatch-roofed chaumieres, the wayside shrines, the 
hospitable huvettes that marked the crossroads, and 
the blackberry lanes through which we wandered, 
eating that forbidden fruit. During these various 
jaunts Lieutenant Wharton, with commendable 
originality, taught us several military paces pre- 
viously unknown to the drill-manual, such as "To 
the rear — Halt!" "Left side-step — March!" or 
"Cadence." At this last command we were to sub- 



14 S. S. U. 585 

stitute a thunderous elephantine plod for our ordi- 
nary lightsome trip, the better to let the country- 
side know we were coming. Another favorite exer- 
cise of our esteemed commander, who by this time 
had acquired the dainty appellation of "Myrtle," 
was to conduct drill in the midst of sleet-storms which 
drove even the Marines, who are supposed to be 
amphibious, to the shelter of their barracks. 

But in spite of these vigorous measures the Section 
suffered very little from sickness, and none of our 
cases were due to exposure. Weber underwent an 
operation for appendicitis, while Sergeant Peters and 
Clifford also spent some time in the hospital, the 
former from an attack of malaria, the latter from 
an injured back acquired in lifting a recalcitrant 
Ford. As at Allentown the ambulance sections were 
well cared for by Major Hall and Captain Whitney, 
acting under the general command of Col. Percy L. 
Jones, present head of the service. 

About September 8 drill was replaced by detail 
of unloading ship and shifting cargo. Since there 
were not enough of the rolling teakettles that the 
French use for switch engines, we were called upon 
as a substitute to shunt freight about the yards. 
In this work we were aided and abetted by negroes, 
Boche prisoners and an occasional jackass which 
had been attracted by a community of interests. 
Not only did we unload legions of crated Fords, but 
having carted the dismembered flivvers to a broad 
beach near the camp, we set them up, putting body 
and chassis together as best we knew how. All the 
sections had a hand in this task. Most of us were 



SECTION HISTORY 15 

dilettante workmen at best, and only the compre- 
hensive knowledge and martyrlike patience of our 
mechanics, Beecher and Marcellus, kept the slate of 
mistakes clean for Section 85. But in spite of diffi- 
culties the Fords rapidly took definite form, and by 
September 29, when we left St. Nazaire, there were 
enough ready to equip the entire contingent then 
in camp. 

In the meantime one important change had taken 
place in the Section. On September 15 Lieutenant 
Wharton was replaced by Lieut. John R. Abbot, 
formerly of a Harvard unit, and an old Field Service 
man who had served his apprenticeship at Verdun. 
He commands us today, and to his knowledge of the 
game and his inspiring leadership we owe, in great 
part, a record of which we can speak with pride. 

On the sixteenth the Section was officially attached 
to the French Army, and identification cards and 
pictures issued. We began to look forward to an 
early departure from St. Nazaire. Our days there 
had been at times a bit laborious, yet we could reckon 
up many a play-hour as well. We'd met Harvard in 
baseball and had been beaten, had met Bucknell and 
had won; had enjoyed nocturnal pie- feasts furnished 
by Harper & Crane, successors to Perkins & Shepard ; 
had "done" the city and had been done by its publi- 
cans ; had explored the neighboring seaside resorts — 
notably La Boule, where a martial phalanx of twelve 
from the Section received a stirring ovation — and 
before an admiring congregation we had swum in the 
sea, clad as Adam was before the fall. 

Yet all this was unsatisfying. We knew that 



16 S. S. U. 585 

along the Front the guns were roaring; at Inverness 
and Zonnebeke the British had finished the battle of 
Flanders and were shelling Ostend ; the Germans 
were bombing London ; and the great Frenchman, 
Guynemer, had met his death. Each man of us was 
feeling the thrill of adventure, the impulse to action 
and, according to his lights, the insistent call of our 
common purpose. So we welcomed the day of de- 
parture, September 29, when with Sections 25, 39 
and 92 we set out in convoy. Each unit had twenty- 
five ambulances, two touring cars, a camionette and 
a Packard truck. The route led through Angers, 
where we spent the first night; Nogent, where we 
were billeted the second; on by way of Chartres and 
Versailles to Sandricourt, the Base Camp. Over 
smooth white roads we sped in the autumn sun- 
shine, past tiny hillside hamlets and old, gray-walled 
chateaux, through little villages that had paid the 
heavy human toll of war, on by France's peerless 
cathedral, and the fabled gardens of Le Petit Tri- 
anon. The Red Cross fluttered from every car, and 
though it is hard to imagine crusaders in flivvers, at 
moments we felt a fleeting sense of the true signifi- 
cance of our mission of mercy. Once especially we 
were made sure that we had chosen aright, when, in 
one of the little villages, an old, old lady, who was 
weeping, waved a feeble hand as we passed, and 
sobbed, "God bless you — God bless you !" 

SANDRICOURT 

None of us swooned with joy at the sight of the 
Base Camp. We'd heard whispers of a chateau, and 



SECTION HISTORY 17 

in those green days of ours had not learned what a 
multitude of architectural sins the term may cover. 
This particular chateau was a drafty old farmhouse 
of whitewashed stone, built about a cobblestone 
courtyard. Here we lived for the week spent at 
Sandricourt, during which time we met for the first 
time our friend of these latter days, "Pinard — le 
vrai sang de la terre"; we performed tree-chopping 
details, fence-building details, dirt-hauling details — 
all the tasks, in short, that help along the pacifist 
cause. On October 3 we lost three men temporarily, 
Larrabee, Houlihan and Van Doren, who were sent 
on detached service to Section 64. We were further 
alarmed by an order reducing the Section in number 
to thirty-five — an order which happily was rescinded 
before our departure. 

Sandricourt was a singularly depressing place, 
and even now, seen in retrospect, arouses little en- 
thusiasm. In the chill gray mornings we performed 
the setting-up exercises, through the dull mid-hours 
of the day dragged the wearisome details to comple- 
tion, and as the cold evening winds whistled about 
the courtyard, we stood at retreat, glad of the day's 
end. At this last ceremony the enrollment was fre- 
quently increased by a delegation of homeless dogs, 
who saw fit to mingle their despairing howls with the 
mournful notes of the bugles that rose and fell and 
quavered into silence among the encircling hills. 

But our discontent was as much due to our atti- 
tude of mind as to the uninspiring surroundings. 
We had left St. Nazaire eager for life at the Front. 
Thus to be stopped in mid-flight was a bitter dis- 



18 S. S. U. 585 

appointment. We had spent the long weeks since 
enlistment in preparation, had finally been given a 
place with the French Army, but so far had seen 
nothing of our Division. However, this consumma- 
tion, so devoutly wished, finally arrived. On October 
8 the Section left Sandricourt, leaving the Fords 
behind, and after a tiresome journey by train 
through Paris to Bar-le-Duc, by camion from Bar- 
le-Duc to Genicourt, we found ourselves part and 
parcel of the 165th French Division. 

GENICOURT 

On a steep hill in a bend of the Meuse rises the 
citadel of the martyr-city of Verdun — martyr, but 
victor as well, for beyond its blood-hallowed battle- 
ments, except as prisoner, the Hun has never passed. 
The direst fighting of the most brutal of wars took 
place before the stronghold of this old Roman city, 
famous for sugarplums and jams, sparking liqueurs 
and curious wood-carving! The glory of other 
battles is shared by the Allies; the glory of Verdun 
belongs to one nation alone. During those three 
hundred days from February to December of 1916 
the white warrior-soul of France again justified its 
immortality, as it had so often in the high days of 
old. And the Crown Prince, having sent seven hun- 
dred thousand of his choicest men to a fruitless 
death, drew back defeated. 

For many kilometres round, the desolation of 
Verdun has spread. But so has its heroism. That 
is why in the autumn of 1917 one could see feeble 



SECTION HISTORY 19 

old men and white-haired women, with awful, tragic 
faces, puttering about the pitiful ruins of their 
homes, determined to hold to the unity of their 
existence long after all who were young had gone. 
Come want and danger and bitter loneliness, no 
matter; their place was by the doorstep they had 
built and from which their children had gone forth, 
and by it would they stay, though only a shattered 
wall remained to cherish. 

Such sights we saw in many a ruined village among 
the grim, brown hills that stretch southward from 
Verdun. It was our first glimpse of the war zone. 
But the deepest effects remained for a time sub- 
conscious, for we piled out of the camions at Geni- 
court, cold, hungry and sleepy. An excellent break- 
fast was furnished us by Section 63 of the Field 
Service, which Section we were relieving. The 
quarters were in a barn built after the fashion of 
Gunga Dhin's pants — "not much before, and rather 
less than half o' that behind." Instead of Fords to 
drive we found Fiats, and instead of dodging shells 
for pastime we fought rats for our existence. 
Genicourt lies some ten kilometres south of Verdun ; 
cars were sent on duty to several posts — Rupt, 
Mouilly, La Cloche, etc. The sector remained 
quiet, though to the north of us the artillery was 
active, and by night we could see the gun flashes and 
star shells. We had no time to become familiar with 
the roads, for on the twelfth the Division went en 
repos, and we with them. In a cold, driving rain 
our convoy passed Bar-le-Duc, Ligny and Vaucou- 
leurs, reaching the destination, Amanty, about dusk. 



20 S. S. U. 585 

THE JEANNE D'ARC COUNTRY 
Scarcely a 'scutcheon, even the fairest, is without 
its tiny blot. Section 85 is firmly convinced that 
Amanty was such a blemish, a plague-spot on the 
fair expanse of Lorraine. Genicourt had been a bit 
short on comfort, but Amanty set an absolutely new 
low record in elegance. Our cars in a barnyard, our- 
selves in a loft, whither we had climbed by ladders 
and poles and whence we doubted ever to descend; 
Stygian darkness and ankle-deep mud, the hardtack 
of hardship and the coffee of calamity, bodily cold 
of the Arctic and linguistic heat of the tropics, with 
the army pawn's helplessness crowning all — such 
was our first night at Amanty. By day things were 
worse, for things were visible. 

During the short stay at this delightful spot some 
eight men were appointed first-class privates, 
another such appointment having been made at St. 
Nazaire. The rest remained first-class philosophers 
with no boost in pay. All our philosophy was needed 
the night of the fifteenth, when a call came requiring 
the evacution of nearly two hundred patients from 
the station at Vaucouleurs to the hospitals. The 
task was completed at eight-thirty in the morning — 
at ten the Section moved a few kilometres north to 
Burey-en-Vaux, where we took up quarters in another 
chateau similar to the one at Amanty. Posts were 
established at St. Germain, Goussaincourt and 
Maxey-sur-Vaise ; the evacuation of sick and 
wounded was to Toul. 

During the hours of leisure, which were plentiful, 
Shepard conducted devout pilgrimages to Domremy, 



SECTION HISTORY 21 

the birthplace of Jeanne d'Arc, and delivered lectures 
rebuking the more benighted of us for levity in re- 
gard to sacred matters. Balmer began a collection 
of French drinking songs, but went to the hospital 
with a high fever before its completion — no case of 
cause and effect was proven. Weber replaced Camp- 
bell as bugler, and bugled not wisely but well enough. 
Crane and Harper, whose kitchen was in happy 
proximity to the dwelling place of two village god- 
desses, Jeanne and Marie, caught the gleam of 
bright eyes through the smoky murk of their in- 
ferno, and turned out viands made ambrosial by 
Devotion's own hands. The rest of us spent a less 
idyllic existence, shoveling mud. 

Domremy and the old house of La Pucelle have 
their place in our memory, along with Vaucouleurs, 
where in 1429 Jeanne d'Arc was given her sword, 
and where in 1917 two less martial but no less 
comely maids dispensed knickknacks and smiles 
across the counters of the "Grand Bazar." But the 
best place we found in all that pleasant land was 
the poste at Maxey-sur-Vaise, in the cottage of 
Madame Viard and her granddaughter Marguerite. 
Madame Viard was a tiny old lady, who must have 
already lived lifetimes but showed no signs of stop- 
ping. Hers was the heart of a child and she had 
a young girl's strength. Many a miss of twenty 
would do penance to secure roses like those in 
Madame's cheeks, or to cultivate a vivacity half so 
successful as Grand'mere's spontaneous gayety. 

Jean Acker, clerk to the Medecin Divisionnaire, 
Savreux, a little cyclist, and four of us from the 



22 S. S. U. 585 

Section were constant boarders at the Viard cottage. 
Acker was six feet two, broad as a door, strong as 
four men and gentle as one real woman. Savreux, 
who was barely five feet tall, sought compensation 
for his smallness in a tremendous moustache, while 
his big friend could boast only a hirsute shadow. 

Grand'mere Viard mothered us all, calling us her 
"pauvres grands," making us tarts, brewing us tea, 
and when the day was done, tucking us in bed with 
a touch like only one other on earth. She joined 
with zest in all the chinoiserie that took place 
beneath her humble roof. Few sights are funnier 
than was that of Grand'mere hopping about in a mad 
jig to the lilt of Acker's violin; few sights more 
touching than that of Grand'mere kneeling by the 
hearth, and with the old-fashioned bellows fanning 
the embers to a blaze, for the warmth and comfort 
of four husky soldiers of the Old World and the 
New. Little and gray and wrinkled, but indomitable, 
she symbolized the unconquerable will of millions of 
her sex, who for years and decades and ages have 
kept the hearthstones warm for the sake of the sons 
of France, for France herself — for more than 
France. 

Though possessed of great patience, and a humor 
almost Rabelaisian in breadth, Grand'mere could 
recognize moments when her honor demanded instant 
battle. One such moment occurred on an otherwise 
quiet Sunday, when a violent private brawl broke 
out between Madame and her granddaughter Mar- 
guerite, over the difficult question of the division of 
labor. It was no mere battle of words ; things hard 



SECTION HISTORY 23 

and deadly filled the air, but Grand'mere had the 
better aim, and at the end of the skirmish held the 
field in triumph, still challenging and implacable, 
while Marguerite was carried out. Our sympathy is 
with the fallen everywhere, but our salutes are all to 
you, Grand'mere Viard — so little, but so mighty ! 

During our three weeks' repos we came to love the 
Jeanne d'Arc country. Round the barracks we had 
plenty of mud, but we had beauty among the hills 
and along the noble sweep of the valleys, with the 
mist from the Meuse dimming harsh contours to a 
gracious harmony. The autumn was brilliant, seem- 
ing not the death of summer, but its consumn^ation ; 
color in the trees and more than summer's vigor in 
the air; no decadence, but a flowering to hardy life. 
In the evenings, as the sinking sun kindled its halo 
over the hills, one could hear the church bells of 
many little villages tolling with a soft persuasive- 
ness, and the lingering music of the shepherd's call, 
full of a perennial sadness and resignation, born with 
the birth of time. The white smoke spirals rising 
seemed incense from peaceful altars, until, listening 
intently, one heard through the stillness a rumbling, 
faint and far, but ominous and ugly — the guns. 
And instantly the little columns of smoke became 
supplications to the quiet sky, mute prayers for 
surcease of strife. How often we asked ourselves 
the question. When will these prayers find answer .f* 

CUSTINES 

On November 3 the Section left Burey, passing 
by Toul and Nancy to Custines. Most descriptions 



24 S. S. U. 585 

of cantonments at this season begin with mud, and 
many need go little further. "Mud" just about 
suffices to complete the picture of Custines — mud, 
and some 1100 inhabitants wading about in it, intent 
upon their various tasks of butcher, baker and 
candlestick maker, regardless of the menace of 
Boche trenches a few kilometres away. The sector 
was quiet, though every clear night German planes 
glided over the town to bomb the iron works at 
Pompey, two miles distant. They got a warm recep- 
tion from the anti-aircraft batteries hidden among 
the hills, but during our stay at Custines never 
deigned to waste a bomb on such small fry — a con- 
servatism for which we were duly grateful. We had 
learned a lesson soon after our arrival. A daylight 
engagement between Boche and French planes took 
place directly above the quarters, during which en- 
counter Section 85 signalized its contempt alike for 
danger and the law of gravitation by standing in the 
open, heads tilted back, eyes and mouths open, like 
so many baby robins waiting to be fed. There was 
a conspicuous absence of Frenchmen in the vicinity, 
but we took little heed of its significance until a siz- 
able chunk of eclat from a French anti-aircraft shell 
thudded into the ground a yard from Voorhees, re- 
minding us that what goes up, even though with the 
best intentions, must come down. 

Though the repos of the Division had ended with 
the departure from Burey, there was no increased 
activity in the new sector where the men held the 
lines. The approach of winter discouraged offen- 
sive tactics in Boche and French alike. Consequently 



SECTION HISTORY 25 

we had few blesses to carry. No postes were estab- 
lished, but two cars were constantly on call at quar- 
ters. Time hung heavy on our hands ; many of the 
Section took to their beds with colds or grippe, and 
only the unconquerable humor of the men and the 
wise direction of our leaders kept the morale from 
suffering a relapse. The weather was cheerless — day 
after day of cold drizzle, until we were tempted to 
doubt the promise of the rainbow. Meanwhile the 
news from other fronts was none too reassuring. At 
Passchendaele and Cambrai the British had ad- 
vanced a bit, and in the Far East had taken Gaza, 
Askalon and Jaffa, while the French were beyond the 
Chemin des Dames. But on the other hand the 
Italian disaster showed itself more and more sinister, 
as the Germans and Austrians, after capturing 
Asiago, crossed the Piave, on their march to Venice. 
In Russia, Kerensky's government had fallen before 
the Maximalists. 

All these things we read in French papers bought 
at the divisional "Co-op." The poilus, when dis- 
cussing the news, looked glum, professed doubt that 
the war would ever end, and betook themselves and 
us to their Pinard-inspired arguments in the dingy 
little cafes. 

But there were rifts in the gloom. American mail, 
especially parcels, had found the way to us. Cigar- 
ettes and chocolate proved very material aids against 
depression, though of doubtful curative value to our 
invalids. On the few decent days we staged football 
games, until Larkin came to grief with a broken 
ankle that necessitated evacuation to the hospital 



26 S. S. U. 585 

at Nancy. Then, shortly before our departure, into 
our dignified existence flashed "Loulou," like an imp 
of the perverse, with her startling good looks, and 
her laissez-faire morals. She was the daughter of 
the landlady, and proved herself the champion 
blaguese in a land of blague. Upon hearing the Sec- 
tion sing that lovely ballad, "My Girl's a Lulu !" she 
had instantly taken the name to herself, the senti- 
ment to heart, and lost no opportunity in justifying 
her claim to both. She held court in our sleeping 
quarters, taking in cigarettes and chocolate, and 
handing out jokes and kisses with delightful im- 
partiality. Loulou played no favorites, though 
several of us — nameless here forever more — were 
ready to act the part. Her mother and her small 
brothers and sisters were present at these soirees. 
It was a touching sight to watch the little ones 
valiantly striving, under the tutelage of Cook 
Harper, to master the words and spirit of another 
chaste old song, "Colombo." 

On November 23 a sudden order came, detaching 
us from our Division and sending us back to Sandri- 
court. In supreme disgust the Section left Custines, 
en route for Nancy, where we gave up the Fiats, 
completing the trip to Sandricourt by train. It was 
during this journey that we staged our famous 
parade through Paris from the Gare de I'Est to the 
Gare du Nord. This war has seen many hetero- 
geneous armies, but it is safe to say that, for piebald 
and addled accoutrement, it never saw our equal. 
Having left the cars at Nancy, we had no fit method 
of carrying the extra baggage acquired while at 



SECTION HISTORY 27 

Custines. So we wore all we could and lugged the 
rest. No two men were dressed alike. Underneath 
we may have been "regulation," but nearly everyone 
wore so many extra costumes, and toted so much 
additional impedimenta that the modest O. D. was 
quite obliterated. Felt boots, aviators' helmets, 
black overcoats, Canadian jackets, gloves and mittens 
6f all sorts, varicolored earmuffs, etc., are only a 
few of the disguises we affected. We carried, in 
addition to our regulation haversacks, boxes and 
parcels of all sizes, souvenir guns and sabres, wicker 
market-baskets and wooden chests, loaves of bread 
and bags of cookies. To make the farce complete, 
Beecher, leading the procession, bore an immense 
American flag — indeed, we needed national identifi- 
cation. Benjamin Franklin, with the buns under his 
arm, never looked funnier to the eyes of his future 
sweetheart than we must have appeared that day to 
the sophisticated gaze of Paris. In any other city 
of the world we'd have been unmercifully hooted: 
courteous Paris doffed its cap to the flag and shouted, 
"Vive I'Amerique !" 

We found Sandricourt as cheerless as before. Our 
gloom was deepened by the necessity, which had once 
before threatened, of reducing the number in the 
Section. It was a bitter duty for Lieutenant Abbot 
and Sergeant Johnstone to perform, though rendered 
easier by the unselfish attitude of the men ultimately 
chosen — Shepard, Balmer, Thorpe, Durant, Lynch, 
Core, Holbrook and Sjostrom. We have never ceased 
to mourn the loss of these messmates of ours, though 
each of them has since filled a worthy place and done 



28 S. S. U. 585 

his part as though there had been no separation. 
Two have found their way back to us — Lynch and 
Sjostrom. 

We had been ordered to Sandricourt to get Fords, 
the Fiats proving unwieldy and expensive. The 
flivvers at the Base Camp were in fearful condition, 
but after a day's work we had twenty that would run. 
With these, a motorcycle and a kitchen trailer — 
since come to be known as the Ark of the Covenant — 
we set out in convoy for Nancy. The route led by 
way of Ecouen, across the Marne, past the Meaux 
Cathedral, and through the famous battlefield to 
Sezanne, where we spent the second night in a loft. 
At noon of the third day — Thanksgiving — we were 
looking for an appropriate dinner at Vitry-le- 
Francois ; by night we were doing the same at Void. 
The entire convoy pulled into town at the heels of 
the staff car containing Lieutenant Jamon, our 
French officer, who worked sometimes in cooperation, 
sometimes in conflict, with Lieutenant Abbot. Upon 
this occasion Jamon supposed he had gone ahead to 
find us quarters, until, looking back, to his amaze- 
ment he found the whole convoy with him. The 
Fords were such a relief from the heavy Fiats that 
we'd forgotten the prescribed speed limit. However, 
our luck in convoys has always been that of the pre- 
destined — and by noon of the next day the Section 
was safely installed in a caserne at Nancy. 

NANCY 

We were now in the unenviable position of a Sec- 
tion without a Division. Such sections are liable at 



SECTION HISTORY 29 

all times to base-hospital evacuation work, the line 
of duty most dreaded by the true ambulancier. 
Happily the suspense ended after three weeks, when 
we became part of the 128th Division — Les Loups 
du Bois le Pretre. 

In the meantime the interlude of three weeks at 
Nancy served to bring us again in touch with the 
amenities of civilization — comfortable baths, cafes 
with table linen and silver, theatres, well-stocked 
stores and smartly dressed civilians. Though the 
Huns' air raids had instilled caution among the in- 
habitants, here as in Paris, they could not inspire 
fear. Behind darkened windows the night life of the 
city "carried on." When the Boche came over people 
quietly retired to caves to await his passing; there 
was no panic, no confusion. 

Our quarters were in a large caserne, which before 
the war had been used as a military school. Here 
at least we escaped the plague of mud, but had to 
fight cold and snow. Yet these were minor hard- 
ships, for we had no driving to do. An exception to 
this happy rule was Borden, whose luckless fate it 
was to provide ravitaillement. Mess sergeants are 
martyrs even in the hours of balmy springtide ; in 
the bitter winter their sufferings must remain un- 
told. 

Housed in the same building with us were about 
eighty "territorials," Frenchmen whose fighting days 
were over, but who were kept in mobilization, drag- 
ging out the weeks until their time of release. These 
poor old boys cast many a wistful look at our warm 
clothes and plentiful food, and seemed to wither per- 



30 S. S. U. 585 

ceptibly into old age in the presence of our vigorous 
youth. As they shuffled in to their meal of bread, 
carrots and Pinard, one was reminded of Tennyson's 
lines — 

Trooping from their mouldy dens 
The chap-fallen circle spreads. 

Yet these tattered veterans had the spirit of Mars 
in their eyes and France's own pride of heart. We 
have met many like them since, and our pity has 
risen to reverence. 

Though far from the trenches we became involved 
in one skirmish which might have afforded employ- 
ment for our idle ambulances. Not far from the 
quarters was a cafe, known among the Section as 
"The Bucket of Blood," — a favorite haunt of 
Apaches, a true "low dive" of the movies, with its 
attendant spirits, male and female, old and young. 
It was the custom of some of our members, when 
cloyed with the glitter of the elegant Cafe Lorraine, 
to average up their impressions by a glance into the 
Bucket of Blood. One night a particularly low- 
browed genius of the place was asserting his right to 
Liberte, Egalite and Fraternite by cracking beer 
bottles over neighboring heads. Through the im- 
partiality of the donor, a French friend of ours 
received a share of this attention and "passed out 
cold." The party ended for that night. The next 
evening a strange delegation might have been seen 
wending its way to the Bucket of Blood. It was led 
by Gil Marcellus and was Franco-American in make- 
up — a chosen band of avengers, composed of the 



SECTION HISTORY 31 

most likely looking "hard men" to be found about 
the caserne. All were armed, but no two alike. Since 
it was uncertain just what operations might have 
to be performed, instruments were provided for all 
exigencies — clubs, short crowbars, chisels and Still- 
son wrenches predominating. But a disappointment 
awaited the band like unto Alexander's upon his 
finding no more worlds to conquer — the Bucket was 
empty, and remained so the entire evening, save for 
two octogenarian cripples already too far gone to 
need hastening. So vanish the hopes of the world ! 

While at Nancy we received the order changing 
the Section number from 85 to 585. This was con- 
sequent upon a scheme of notation installed in the 
A. E. F. by which different branches of the service 
were given different numeral series, the ambulance 
serial beginning with 500. 

On December 4 Sergeant Johnstone left us, to 
attend the Automobile School at Meaux, Sergeant 
Peters filling his place. When "Johnny" went we 
lost a beloved comrade and masterful leader; when 
"Pete" took charge we gained a worthy successor. 

On the fifth the wanderers, Houlihan, Larrabee and 
Van Doren, returned to the fold, having finished 
their detached service. And on the same day our 
first permissionnaires, Bradley and Beecher, left for 
Biarritz. 

December 21 we began to receive the false reports 
that usually preceded departure. Hints of destina- 
tions all the way from the Vosges to Verdun kept us 
guessing, until on the twenty-third the true order 
came, shunting us to Baccarat. 



32 S. S. U. 585 

BACCARAT 
With the arrival in Baccarat one phase of our 
army life may be said to have ended. Theoretically 
the period of training closed at Genicourt, but in 
fact the ten weeks ensuing were little more than a 
proving time for the lessons learned. Many of those 
lessons stood the test, some did not. For example, 
the stretcher drill, good enough on parade, went by 
the board when wounded men were waiting ; the speed 
and traffic rules of convoys, once devoutly believed 
in, proved dead letters in practice; the army dictum 
concerning daily baths became a hissing and a by- 
word when tried out at the Front. With experience 
came a sort of affectionate contempt for much that 
was "regulation" in matters of detail. This proved 
the easier for us because we were a small unit, out 
of close touch with the A. E. F. Headquarters and 
largely self-governing, subject of course to the 
French authority under which we worked. This 
authority was represented in the Section by Lieu- 
tenant Jamon, who served as liaison officer, trans- 
mitting the "ordres de mouvement" keeping tab on 
the gasoline consumption, and in cooperation with 
Lieutenant Abbot regulating choice of route and 
quarters when in convoy. Besides Jamon the French 
personnel included a "fourrier" or "marechal des 
logis" acting in the capacity of clerk and general 
utility man, two mechanics, a cook and a driver for 
the French staff car. This personnel varied at dif- 
ferent times in number as in quality. At Baccarat 
the two mechanics, "Jimmy" and L'Antoine, left us, 
as did Proal, a fine young chap from Nice, who 



SECTION HISTORY 33 

shared with Borden the tortures of the ravitoille- 
ment job. Here we lost the picturesque Martinet, 
but gained Rouger, whose tact and understanding, 
as well as his command of languages, have smoothed 
many a rocky road. In place of Proal we acquired 
Emery, late of the Cafe Martin, New York, and 
master of culinary arts as well as past master of 
blandishment. Back at Burey, Edouard, a genial 
Apache acting as cook, had been replaced by Mathe, 
who looks and talks like Moses gone to seed, and 
cooks like Sitting Bull. With Mathe came Richard, 
docile slave to Jamon, hope and terror of women and 
high priest of Pinard. "Our Frenchmen" — we think 
of them as peculiarly ours — have been our faithful 
friends and boon companions through thick and 
thin. 

As stated above, the weeks preceding Baccarat 
served to sift the unessential chaff from the meaty 
grain of service. A few simple principles were found 
to compose all that was demanded for the smooth 
working of the system. Most fundamental of all — 
the wounded must come in: difficulties and even im- 
possibilities in the way form no excuse for failure. 
The impossible can be accomplished where men's lives 
are at stake. Each driver understood this ; his con- 
science and his honor were his commanders. In this 
respect the ambulance man's part was a harder one 
to play than that of combatant. In going over the 
top each man helps sustain the others, and from the 
excitement of concerted action is born a group- 
courage. There can be no turning back. This is 
not true of the ambulance driver. When things are 



34. S. S. U. 585 

darkest he must go alone with his wounded; there is 
no room for an orderly. His is the lone trail and the 
slow trail. For no matter how close the shells drop 
or how thick the gas, he dare not hurry ; speed over 
bumpy roads means hemorrhage and death to the 
helpless men in his charge. When the gas comes he 
must first adjust their masks, then think of himself. 
But it is his own soul that says must. If he chooses 
to shirk, there is no one to hinder ; and if he himself 
falls, there is no one to help. It is the unshrinking 
acceptance of this high ideal of service, not only in 
our own Section, but in all sections, that has made 
the S. S. U. name a proud one. 

Baccarat was our first permanent home. The 
quarters were in a roomy building adjoining the 
"Cristallerie," though we spent the first week in the 
"Caserne Haxo," one place where the mercury of 
the Centigrade ducked lower than at Nancy. Many 
people in the States have souvenirs of the Cristal- 
lerie, but few know it. A Colgate bottle sees its be- 
ginning in this glass mill of the Vosges, as do many 
other articles of glassware. 

The town has some seven thousand inhabitants. 
When we arrived the American soldier was still a 
rara axis in those parts, though another S. S. U. 
section had preceded us there in time and somewhat 
exceeded us in cochonnerie. However, at the end of 
a week or so we were looked upon as semirespectable 
and treated accordingly. The Hotel Du Pont opened 
hospitable but golden-keyed doors to us, as did the 
Hotel de la Gare, where lived Mademoiselle Yvonne 
and her beautiful little sister Simone. Among other 



SECTION HISTORY 35 

haunts of conviviality should be mentioned the Cafe 
de la Meurthe, throneroom of the pale and slender 
Marguerite. 

Part of the town had been destroyed by shells and 
fire, of both French and German origin, during the 
early part of the war. In the winter of 1917 the 
trenches swept in a wide semicircle some six to twelve 
kilometres from town. Our permanent postes were 
at Badonviller, Migneville and Montigny, but calls 
came from practically all advanced points along that 
sector of the lines — Neuviller, Ancerviller, St. Pole, 
St. Maurice, Pexonne, Bois le Compte, Village Negre, 
etc. All through that winter our little Fords rolled 
back and forth over the snowy roads, more often 
with sick men than with wounded. The shelling was 
intermittent, though certain spots got more than 
their share. 

Such a place was the house of Madame Thomas 
at Badonviller. The town itself was only a few hun- 
dred yards from the trenches. Practically all the 
civilians, save Madame and her daughter Alixe, had 
abandoned the ruins of their homes long before we 
came to Baccarat. Badonviller was one of the un- 
fortunate villages that had suffered from the cruelty 
and lust of the Huns in their first dash towards 
Nancy. Many of the houses were mere stone shells, 
without roofs and pierced by great jagged holes. 
The Thomas house retained two or three comfort- 
able rooms, and Madame and Alixe, with their wise 
old dog Michel, refused to give it up. The Section 
established its poste in the house, brought out the 
phonograph, and prepared to face the strafing of 



36 S. S. U. 585 

Fritz as best they could. Night after night the 
shrapnel cracked and rattled over the town and 
hummed across the doorstep, as the two brave 
French women and four Americans made merry with 
the music of opera and "rag." Often the gas alarm 
sounded, and to the accompaniment of the shells that 
plopped with a treacherous silken softness, the vapor 
of death crept through the town. Masks were 
clapped on and the concert continued. Pretty Alixe 
enjoyed the excitement and had no wish to retreat. 
Madame Thomas simply said, "All this has happened 
before," and sleepy old Michel, who seemed to be 
gas-proof, took not the slightest notice, but drowsed 
on, dreaming doubtless of the coming of peace, when 
he could eat his reserve rations of buried bones with- 
out fear for the morrow. Several times it was 
thought that the Germans had broken through and 
were in the town. Alixe dressed herself in her finest, 
to flaunt the conquerors ; Madame went steadily 
about her household work, and we tuned up the 
Fords, though our code would have prevented flight. 
But at such times the "Wolves" never yielded the 
last ditch. Many of them came back to us mangled 
and bleeding, but always brave, always smiling at the 
prospect of a jaunt back to the hospital in one of 
the "petites voitures." 

At Migneville and Montigny there was less activity 
than at Badonviller during the greater part of the 
winter. In the evenings the Germans usually fired a 
few good-night shells in the general direction of the 
postes, but rarely did much damage. And the saucy 
little "soixante-quinze" — the finest gun in the 



SECTION HISTORY 37 

world — barked back its derision and defiance. In 
the long evenings, when calls were few, those of us 
who were on duty wrote legions of letters, read every- 
thing we could find, and jabbered with the French- 
men in approved Franco-American, a lingo which is 
absolutely untrammeled by grammar. A conversa- 
tion usually begins : 

"Dis done! mon vieux — as-tu ton quart.'"' 

"Oui — donnez-moi a little Pinard." 

"Voila !" 

"Bon ! Well, a votre health !" 

"A la votre !" — etc. 

In one respect the Montigny poste was unique, 
though Migneville ran it a close second. This was 
in the possession of probably the most expert group 
of soup-garglers in the French Army. Grizzled, 
bearded, tough old hrancardiers who believed in 
directness in all things and a has ceremony, they 
splashed, inhaled and siphoned down their liquid 
ration with a concert of fortissime wheezing that 
fairly drowned the thunder of the guns. There were 
usually about a dozen of these human sponges seated 
at a large table, bent upon annihilating a huge boiler 
of beef bouillon. Each veteran had his own tech- 
nique and applied it with deadly eflFect. Though 
tradition had taught us that in all dealings with 
soup, silence is especially golden, we soon learned 
respect for war-time exceptions to the rule. If we 
hadn't we'd have gone soupless to the afternoon's 
work. 

Just as life on poste gave us a better understand- 
ing of the French soldier, life in the town of Baccarat 



38 S. S. U. 585 

helped us to appreciate the customs and manners 
of the civilians. We learned the ways of the shop- 
keepers and adopted the little amenities that at first 
sight seem so amusing and soon become so agree- 
able. Upon entering the shop, one greets not only 
the "patron" but all the customers, as though he 
were genuinely glad to see them ahead of him in turn. 
No matter how small the purchase, the deal can 
carry quite a ballast of persiflage along with it. The 
banter usually centered upon the prices of commodi- 
ties and the richness of Americans, but this is imma- 
terial. It may be apropos of nothing. And when 
one has finished, he bids all a hearty, ceremonious 
farewell, though he may intend to return within the 
hour. 

The first formal coup de main took place January 
15. It was only a small affair, put on by the French 
to get prisoners for purposes of information. But 
for the first time we were told of the plans before- 
hand, and so came to realize with what a cool calcu- 
lation the terrible work was done. The barrage 
began at 2 p.m. At four the Wolves went over the 
top, and by six o'clock the wounded began to come 
in. Every ambulance in the Section, the Packard 
truck and even the motorcycle sidecar were hard at 
work until two in the morning — Boche and French, 
we carted them in. The night was black and rainy, 
but the Section came through with no serious mis- 
haps, though the Packard rested in the ditch till the 
next day. The poilus had bagged about forty 
"fritzes" who were exhibited to the townspeople in 
the courthouse yard. 



SECTION HISTORY 39 

About this time "Johnny" — now Lieutenant 
Johnstone — came to bid us farewell before taking 
over another section. In his place came Howard 
Potter, detailed to us from the Base Camp. 

Late in February the Americans came — and with 
them came trouble. It was the Rainbow Division 
that took over a part of the sector and, aided by the 
Frenchmen of our own Division, staged coups de 
main and maintained constant artillery activity. 
They were a fine, clean-cut set of Yankees, very eager 
to get a chance at the Germans, but patently new 
to the game. As soon as Fritz began to feel the 
wrath of American guns, he replied in kind, Special- 
izing on the roads — and our "hon petit secteur" was 
no more. The route to Montigny and Migneville 
became a gamut of fire, and the Badonviller stretch 
a death-trap. In short order we found our duties 
multiplied, for we took care of both French and 
American wounded. We had many chances to com- 
pare the pluck of our own boys with the grit of the 
poilus, only to find neither had the advantage. Take 
one example. An American boy, terribly wounded, 
lay in the ambulance, when a Frenchman was pushed 
in beside him. The poilu's head was a grotesque 
white knob of bandages, only his mouth being free. 
The Yankee was shot in the stomach, and was slowly 
bleeding to death. So they rested, side by side. 

"Hello, Frenchy ! How the hell are you.'"' queried 
the Yank, in a voice meant to be hearty. 

"Bon jour, mon vieux ! (J'a va?" came from the 
bandages, cheerily as might be. There you have it. 

Casualties among the Americans were numerous, 



40 S. S. U. 585 

and often due to rashness and inexperience. It was 
with mingled emotions that we watched develop- 
ments — pride in the splendid spirit and dash of our 
countrymen, sorrow at seeing so many fall. We had 
thought ourselves hardened to suffering, but a new 
element had entered here. These were our own 
brothers we were bringing back; every groan or cry 
wrung from them might later find echo on our own 
lips. Often we were possessed by a sense of un- 
reality; could it be possible that these fellows, so 
familiar-looking, so homely in their talk, so like the 
men we'd known all our lives at home, were here in 
the trenches, killing and being killed? It is doubtful 
if the people in America ever came fully to realize 
the exact meaning of the expression, "Life is cheap 
in war time." To do so they would have to see warm, 
moving bodies turn in one sickening flash to still, 
red-mottled heaps, and to note that those same piti- 
ful heaps make not the slightest difference in the 
great maelstrom. 

Take a single instance, the case of a bright young 
fellow we saw and talked with at Village Negre, in a 
dugout. Strong, capable hands, smooth brown skin 
tight drawn over firm jaws, a humorous twinkle in 
his eye and a whimsical curl of lip-corners : then like 
a flash came a variation of the picture — the same 
boy at home, guiding his plow through some lush 
lowland field, the same humor in his eyes and on his 
lips. Why in God's name is that young fellow here 
in France, crouching in a cave, so out of place in 
uniform and casque, yet looking so handsome too! 
All that he represents is ours as well. We know his 



SECTION HISTORY 41 

fields, his streams, his woods, his little town — and we 
can feel the crisp tang of the autumn that ripens 
the apples in his orchard. Though he thinks he is 
concealing it, homesickness creeps into his voice and 
dims a little the glint of the honest eyes. So it was 
that Monday afternoon. Early the next morning, 
so early that the frost still lingered and the amber 
sun-rays were cold, we brought him in. One can't 
describe him. He was still alive, we thought, as we 
carried the dripping stretcher into the hospital. A 
single idea possessed us all — how clean and strong 
the night before, how shattered today ! Above all, 
we remembered the clear, gray eye that twinlcled so 
humorously till the hurt of homesickness softened 

the gleam. And as we lifted the stretcher to put it 

back in place — this is literally true — we saw that 
eye again. It lay in the midst of a dark, red-clotted 

heap among the blankets. An hour was required 

to clean that litter; a lifetime won't blot out the 
memory. 

Many of the Section had close calls after the 
American guns had roused the sleeping Hun giant. 
One night as the phonograph was proclaiming that 

Cleopatra had a jazz-band 
In her castle on the Nile — 

a portion of the Thomas house disappeared in the 
wake of a "big one" that had perforated the kitchen. 
The boys burrowed deeper, and the concert was re- 
sumed. At the sawmill, near St. Pole, a "seventy- 
seven" skimmed lovingly over the faces of Sergeant 
Peters and Ted Larrabee as they lay sleeping. The 



42 S. S. U. 585 

shell lodged in the wall, failing to explode. Before 
we left the Baccarat sector even the most skeptical of 
us believed in the angels. 

It was at Pexonne that Van Doren began his series 
of Secret Service adventures. Upon several occa- 
sions Van had sauntered among the first line trenches 
with a sang froid and a deliberateness, as well as a 
pipe and cane, that drew respectful salutes from the 
American officers who considered him at least a 
colonel. But one day he supplemented his stroll by 
taking pictures of machine-gun positions, shell 
bursts, etc. — a practice ardently discouraged by 
American General Orders. For this extracurriculum 
activity he was apprehended as a German spy and 
relegated to the Pexonne guardhouse, where he lan- 
guished in durance vile until proven neither guilty 
nor innocent, but irresponsible. This verdict guar- 
anteed him a perfect candidate for K. P., in which 
role he performed miracles where miracles had never 
been seen before. 

Throughout the winter rumors were rife of a big 
spring party all along the Front. Fritz would be 
the host, it was thought, and the Allies were prepar- 
ing to attend in large numbers. As the affair was 
to be formal, nobody wanted to commit the gaucherie 
of appearing in careless garb. 

We spent many an evening — some wet, some merely 
humid — in the cafe, passing prophecies back and 
forth through the tobacco smoke. Frequently the 
group became cosmopolitan, as upon one occasion 
when, besides the Frenchmen, among those present 
were two Britishers, who remained jovially in our 



SECTION HISTORY 43 

midst until one succumbed to liquid fire and was 
ejected for behavior under the table unbecoming a 
Royal Engineer. 

But however merry the discussions might appear, 
seriousness lurked behind every careless word. We 
all knew that great events were impending. At last, 
when the fragrant warmth of spring was touching 
the drab slopes of the Vosges, came news that the 
great battle had begun : the Germans, in overwhelm- 
ing numbers, were smashing their bloody way towards 
Amiens. Our hopes were high ; French reinforce- 
ments were rushing north; doubtless the Wolves 
would go. Then an order came. On April 1 we 
started for St. Clement — with one exception the 
dullest, most peaceful of our caravanserais. 

ST. CLEMENT AND BAZIEN 

The children of Israel had certain cities of refuge 
to which a man might flee after he had shufRed his 
neighbor off this mortal coil. Here he might avoid 
attention from the blood-avenger until the tribal 
gendarmes had a chance to stage his demise properly. 

St. Clement and Bazien were cities of refuge for 
Section 585, though the places were no more cities 
than wc were murderers. But here we found perfect 
sanctuary both from Hun shells and from Baccarat's 
cutthroat prices. Nothing happened at St. Clement 
except climate, while at Bazien the torpor of all 
things was so phenomenal as to be almost exciting. 
It was like the forbidding calm before a storm that 
never came. 

To remind us that we were still alive, we were sent 



44 S. S. U. 585 

out where we stood a first-class chance of being 
killed — to postes at Domjevin, Benamenil and 
Herbeviller — but without sanguinary effect. Our 
real excitement occurred in quarters each evening as 
we heard the news from the Somme ; how the Germans 
were scattering all before them in their advance upon 
Amiens and the Channel Ports upon which the vital 
supplies of the British Army depended. By this time 
the world recognized the German purpose — to cut 
the French from the British and so reach a decision 
before the American forces could play their full part. 

None of us are bloodthirsty; furthermore we'd just 
come from a sector full of ever recurrent danger, 
where our escapes from death had often seemed 
miraculous. Yet at St. Clement we grew impatient, 
hoping the Wolves would be sent north to the great 
battle. Many other French divisions were going: at 
some points the German tide was being stemmed. 
Our confidence in the French was unbounded. The 
British were fighting with a desperate valor: no one 
could call for more devotion. But something, 
whether inherent in the situation or inborn in the 
men themselves, gave the balance of opposing power 
to the little poilu. Perhaps a word about this same 
poilu as he appears to us is not out of place here. 

He is one of the greatest fighters in the world 
because one of the most spirituel — imaginative. He 
is not only pure nerve — he is courage-plus. The 
quality that makes him the world's best lover, the 
being most in love with life and best able to compre- 
hend earthly existence, is the same quality that turns 
him to pure battle steel when the occasion calls. He 



SECTION HISTORY 45 

does not affect a stoicism which is natural to the 
Britisher. He fights with abandon, joyously, and 
when he dies he simply drifts into oblivion in a sort 
of exaltation that differs only in degree, not in 
nature, from his battle fury. 

We, with many others, were deceived by our first 
impressions. Often the poilu does not look the war- 
rior. In his old, faded blue uniform, his nondescript 
leggins and his clumsy shoes he stands by his big 
brother from the West, little and humble, quietly 
watching. But when he begins to fight the revelation 
comes. And God help the foe in his path when the 
poilu goes over the top ! 

His courtesy is not a matter of habit, it is an 
instinct. Nothing ever makes him forget to do the 
beautiful thing. No matter how shell-torn he may 
be, he cannot be driven from the zone of death until 
he has shaken hands with "mon lieutenant" and 
wished all about him "bonne chance." This practice 
frequently made us extremely uncomfortable, at criti- 
cal moments, until we came to realize that we were 
watching something bigger than battles. From that 
moment we never tried to hinder the leave-takings of 
this little blue doughboy whose courtesy is beyond 
the fear of death. 

On April 23 we moved from St. Clement to Bazien, 
a microscopic village between Baccarat and Ramber- 
viller. It was like a lapse from semiconsciousness 
to complete amnesia. Bazien lay under a spell like 
that of the Land of the Lotos-Eaters, except that 
the tranquillity of its eternal afternoon was marred 
by sundry gruntings, cacklings and bellowings from 



46 S. S. U. 585 

the legions of pigs, chickens and cows that made up 
the greater part of its population. The first object 
that met our gaze as we entered the village was an 
enormous hog, stationed with disconcerting complete- 
ness across our path of advance — a true road-hog. 
It was an inoffensive, well-meaning animal, glad to 
be friends with all the world, but a little too fat to 
be convenient either to himself or to his surroundings, 
like many a man whose avoirdupois has smothered 
his tact. Circumventing that cochon was about the 
most exciting thing that occurred at Bazien. 

But we soon discovered that this bucolic existence 
held comforts not to be sneezed at. Milk and fresh 
eggs as well as real butter became daily diet. We 
were comfortably housed and had no work to do — 
what Sybarite could ask more.? 

While exploring the country-side we came across 
the ruins of an old chateau. Nothing remained save 
walls enclosing shapeless heaps of debris, with tender 
green grass blades sprouting from the mould. Pas- 
sages, now choked with rubbish, led down to ancient 
wine vaults. Parts of the corner towers remained, 
their jagged turrets rising above the ruins like senti- 
nels of desolation. Mournful though the place ap- 
peared, there was about it an atmosphere suggestive 
of vanished romance, of colorful life and joy, of love 
and hate and battle, wit and wickedness, of slender 
swords and ladies' slippers, sparkling red wine and 
lilting, witchy music — echoes of France's golden 
chivalry. 

Later we heard the story of the chateau. It had 
been the hereditary home of a noble French family. 



SECTION HISTORY 47 

At the outbreak of the war its master was a captain 
of artillery. In the first few days of attack the 
Germans took possession of the old chateau. It be- 
came the headquarters of some forty high German 
officers. When the French had stopped the Hun 
advance, these officers remained. At length French 
guns were brought up — and by a piece of cruel 
irony, the captain who owned the chateau was in 
command. His duty was a hard one. Knowing every 
nook and cranny of the place, and loving all with a 
love rooted far in the past, he trained his cannon on 
his ancestral home and shattered it to bits. But 
with it went some forty high German officers.' 

At Bazien Van Doren staged his second Secret 
Service episode — and his last. Having tired of the 
frivolous company of the Section, Van pitched his 
pup tent in the woods and retired to a life of lonely 
contemplation. Whether his meditation was so deep 
and occult as to establish telegraphic rapport with 
the American authorities at Baccarat, or whether 
somebody "squealed" about his splendid, but irregu- 
lar isolation, we never knew. At any rate a couple 
of redoubtable American M. P.'s arrived in a touring 
car and scoffing at habeas corpus claims, took Van 
with them. Yet he departed not after the manner 
of a malefactor, but rather as a prince going to his 
coronation. Here, as always. Van's assurance was 
sublime. With noble tolerance he submitted to the 
puerile indignity of having his suitcase searched, even 
deigning to swear that the present out-lay was all 
that the bag had contained the night before — xmth 
a single exception. At this the M. P.'s, scenting a 



48 S. S. U. 585 

clue, fixed him with a basilisk stare. Then Van Doren, 
casting all caution to the winds, named the excep- 
tion — two eggs, which, as he deposed with some show 
of reason, having eaten, he could not conveniently 
display. Upon the conclusion of this colloquy the 
captors and captive departed, the M. P.'s carrying 

Van's luggage to the car. Two days later, just as 

the Section was leaving Bazien, the touring car ar- 
rived in a cloud of dust, and Van Doren with dignity 
descended, the M. P.'s standing respectfully by. 
Once more the inquisition had reached an indeter- 
minate verdict, the prisoner's actions being at once 
so naive and so unaccountable as to allow no chance 
for the claw-hold of prosecution. There was noth- 
ing in General Orders forbidding a man to pitch a 
tent and to sojourn therein, nor could the fact, how- 
ever significant, of Van's having eaten two eggs the 
night before be interpreted as evidence of conspiracy 
with the enemy. 

FROM BAZIEN TO VILLERS-COTTERETS 

Viewed in retrospect the movements of 585 during 
that May of 1918 seem to have been providentially 
arranged as a preparation for the all-important work 
of the summer. The preceding winter we had served 
our novitiate at Baccarat ; now we were to be drawn 
by gradual stages into the immense vortex that had 
its bloody centre in the forests of Villers-Cotterets. 

The first phase of this preparation we found at the 
end of the long convoy trail that led from Bazien 
in the Vosges to Picquigny, just behind Amiens in 
the Somme. The thing we had prayed for had come 



SECTION HISTORY 49 

to pass ; the Wolves were ordered far north to sup- 
port the British, if necessary, against a German 
attack that was now fast dwindling in fury. During 
April and early May the German tide had rolled 
steadily westward to beat against that stubborn ridge 
of opposition which it was destined not to pass — the 
armies of Britain, France and America commingled, 
holding the extensions of the line through Amiens. 

In convoy we drove for three days, through 
Charmes to Troyes, historic old city of gray, on by 
Beauvais, which was tense with the stress of conflict, 
seeing once more the prophetic shadow of the Hun 
upon its streets. On the third day we halted at 
Aumale, far behind the British lines, a town that will 
live in our memories for the fabulous variety and 
potency of its liquors. If ever a people believed in 
being jocund with the fruitful grape and in seeing 
visiting Americans jocund, too, that people is the 
hospitable populace of Aumale. After making the 
tavern-keepers of the town solvent for life, we moved 
to Picquigny, some eight kilometres west of Amiens 
on the main road to Abbeville. 

The Wolves were not sent into the lines but were 
held in reserve. The poilus, while glad of a respite, 
shook their heads ; the prospect was forbidding. In- 
action now meant lots of action at a worse time. The 
officers felt the emotional pulse of the Division, and 
like the subtle psychologists they were, took measures 
to offset any possible drop in morale. Doubtless few 
who listened night after night to the inspiring music 
from the band of the 169th, or watched the spirited 
reviews at sunset realized that these displays meant 



50 S. S. U. 585 

more than mere entertainment — they meant the 
spiritual "energizing" of the men, like the charging 
of an electric battery. For the crisis had not yet 
passed ; formidable though the German onslaught in 
the north had been, all realized now that the last 
great battle had yet to be fought. With drawn lips 
and glowing eyes the Frenchmen would breathe the 
name of Paris — and glance to the east, where the 
Boche shells were falling in Amiens. Sooner or later 
it would come, the last obscene lunge of the wounded 
beast upon Paris, the tender mistress of all their 
hearts, their white city of love and laughter and life. 
To the Frenchman Paris is more than a shrine, for 
she is more intimate ; sweeter than dreams, and more 
real, for she gives dreams their consummation. The 
thought of Germany's taking Paris was to the poilu 
bitterer than the thought of death. Both might 
happen, but death should happen first ! 

Something of the Frenchmen's hatred of the Hun 
must have arisen in us, too, as from the peak of an 
old castle in Picquigny we watched the great shells 
crashing about the Amiens cathedral, or as, after a 
raid by the German bombers, we gathered up the 
limp little white-and-red bodies of children killed by 
the scourge that so often spared strong men. 

Meanwhile, day after day, along the artery of 
hard white road rolled British cannon, British shells, 
British food supplies, and backward towards Abbe- 
ville rolled British ambulances, not often empty. 
Along this road came Comedy, too, in the midst of 
grimness, as, for example, the detachment of Chinese 
laborers led by a British sergeant. It was the only 



SECTION HISTORY 51 

contingent that ever rivaled our own as we had ap- 
peared on the day of our parade through Paris. 
These Chinamen "had nothing on us" for diversity 
of costume, but they possessed the gift of an Oriental 
imagination. 

"Aint this the helluv un army !" yelled the dis- 
gusted British sergeant as he passed at the head of 
his "troops." Since the most conservative and 
martial-appearing fellow of the lot was simply 
dressed in a suit of heavy woolen underwear, old tan 
shoes and a "Derby" hat, we were constrained to 
agree with Sergeant Tommy. 

Big, raw-boned Australians, devil-may-care fight- 
ers and born good comrades, swaggered about the 
town of evenings, and speedily took up with the 
"Yanks." It was a proud night for Yale when four 
of these giants from the Land of the Rising Sun 
slipped under the table, with fixed and stary eyes, 
and waxed helpless as babes, while the saturated 
champions from 585 commandingly hoofed the rail 
and ordered "three more rounds." 

Though the work at Picquigny was easy the leisure 
brought no sense of security. Suspense spoke in eyes 
and voices, and a sinister uneasiness poisoned the 
beauty of those spring days. We were nervous, like 
men treading the thin crust over a volcanic lake; 
each snap and crackle boded the bursting forth of 
the white-hot lava. Rumor whispered through the 
day and sank into stillness before new flocks that 
took wing at nightfall. All reports breathed the 
revolting, terrifying association of two ideas — the 
Germans and Paris — the Germans and Paris. 



52 S. S. U. 585 

By the twenty-second we had moved to Esquennoy, 
camping in pup tents in the wooded grounds of an 
old chateau near Breteuih For seven or eight nights 
we crouched under inadequate shelter while the Ger- 
man Gothas throbbed above the tree tops, unloading 
their cargoes of "coal" on a near-by aviation field. 
By day the French aviators played ping-pong on a 
little table in the shade, and at night chased the 
sportive Fritz. 

Van Doren had said a last good-bye to the Section 
at Picquigny, being transferred for pare duty. In 
his place came Bob Wylie, variously and affection- 
ately known as "Dingbat," "Sleepy," "Whiz-bang" 
or "Pinard." It was a rough initiation, this bomb- 
dodging at Esquennoy, but Bob's sang froid smacked 
of the veteran. 

On May 21 the tension broke as the Germans 
struck with shattering force. It was the second great 
attack, delivered this time against the British at 
Berry-au-Bac and the French along the Chemin-des- 
Dames. For us it meant the last short respite before 
Villers-Cotterets. During the next three days we 
moved with our Division, bordering the lines, skirting 
the edge of battle, through Compiegne, Le Meux, Re- 
thondes and Vez, towards the point where the spear- 
head of the Hun drive was hacking its way to Paris. 
The Germans were hurling division after division into 
the advance, moving with appalling rapidity. On 
May 28 they crossed the Vesle, in the Aisne sector; 
on the twenty-ninth came word that Soissons had 
fallen, with the loss of 25,000 prisoners ; on the 
thirtieth Rheims made her last-ditch fight, with the 



SECTION HISTORY 53 

green-gray tide only two miles away. On the thirty- 
first came a shadow of hope, for the Germans had 
failed to cross the Marne; but on the first of June 
the whole battle front from the Marne to the Oise 
blazed and thundered into new fury — and the Ger- 
man host swept on. 

Shortly after midnight of the thirty-first, at Le 
Meux, Lieutenant Abbot, calling the Section about 
him, read the General's order to the Division, a brief 
message, but one that filled our hearts with fire and 
our eyes with tears. It was the death warrant of 
many a little poilu friend of ours — a summons to the 
glorious death they were all so eager to dare. In 
substance it said: 

Division of the Wolves : 

Paris is in deadly peril. It is you who must save 
her. Cost what it may to check him, the enemy must 
not pass. As you fought long ago at Verdun, as you 
have fought many times since, so must you fight once 
more, though it be for the last time. 

Soldiers of France, I salute you ! 

We knew what it meant, even before the Lieutenant, 
pale and haggard, added his few words of explana- 
tion. Our Division was to be sacrified to save Paris — 
thrown alone across the area of greatest penetration 
to hold the Boche until reinforcements could arrive. 

No one knew the precise point where the Wolves 
would make their stand. At four in the morning we 
moved to Rethondes, the town where on a happier 
day some months later Marechal Foch was to meet 
the German delegates to discuss armistice terms. 
This morning the roads were choked with great 



54 S. S. U. 585 

trucks full of men coming back from battle. Their 
faces were like masks of pale stone, showing ghastly 
through the coating of dust. Over their cheeks ran 
smudgy lines, made by the drops of sweat and tears. 
Their eyes were unseeing, frightful, wide with a 
horror indefinable, as of men come out of hell. Such 
a look could never live in human eyes except through 
experience of the obscene, ultimate evil of war. 
These men had come from an inferno where nothing 
was normal ; where wounds and the warmth of spurt- 
ing blood were friendly, where pain came to be 
clutched as a boon, an assurance of sanity — a place 
where man's indomitable will sobbed itself out in 
bafflement, as the great senseless mechanical forces 

tore their brutal paths through living flesh, So 

they came back — hopeless wraiths, with futile, star- 
ing eyes, truckful after truckful, the retreat of an 
army. 

We hoped against hope, trying to believe that 
these troops were retiring only temporarily — but we 
knew better. And then came the guns, a headlong 
riot of great caissons, with their mute brown barrels 
still pointing defiantly towards the foe. 

Like a strain of piercing sorrow in a blatant 
paean of war sounded the sobs and prayers of the 
refugees, begging protection against the Boche. 
Crowded from the way, old men and women, young 
girls and little children, pushing carts and carrying 
bundles, struggled along the ditches of the roadside, 
or fell and lay still, overcome by the heat and dust 
and exhaustion. None of them had food, none knew 
where they could find a resting place. They only 



SECTION HISTORY 55 

knew that the Germans were close behind — coming, 
coming ! One picture is hard to forget. A little old 
lady, who reminded us of Grand'mere Viard at Burey, 
was trundling along a small wheelbarrow, in which 
slept a chubby wee fellow of six. The quaint black 
bonnet the old lady wore had slipped askew, and thin 
strands of white hair hung about her ears. The 
boy in the wheelbarrow was heavy, but evidently too 
exhausted to walk. Every hundred feet or so the 
woman sank to her knees to rest, her breath coming 
in long sobs. She seemed the image of pitiful de- 
spair. A soldier hurrying past, spoke to her with 
the bitter jest of that bitter day — "On to PaHs, eh, 
Grand'mere ! — a German Paris !" The old lady 
sprang to her feet like a girl, her eyes snapping 
angrily. "Never ! They will never see our Paris !" 

Spirit of France and motherhood ! 

That word from the feeble little woman shamed 
hope to life in us again — and then far in the distance 
we heard cheering. Along the hurrying, panic-filled 
line of retreat drifted a dust cloud, nearer and 
nearer, until suddenly, into view shot truck after 
truck, but — going the other way! To meet the 
Germans ! The camions were crowded with soldiers 
in horizon-blue, soldiers whose eyes gleamed like the 
eyes of demons, and whose teeth shone white as they 
shouted. And as the first load swept by we broke 
into a yell that fairly split our throats. For written 
with chalk on the back and side of each truck were 
the words, 

"Boche — you shall not pass ! We are the Wolves 
of Lorraine !" 



56 S. S. U. 585 

VILLERS-COTTERETS 
The Wolves took the lines not beyond Rethondes, 
but in the Forest of Villers-Cotterets. One of their 
number has told the story; his brief account is as 
follows : 

In March distressing news began to come to us 
from other points of the Front. The Boches were 
winning successes of which the recital enraged me. 
During the months following, these successes in- 
creased. After Calais and Amiens Paris herself was 
threatened. Paris, my old Pantruche, was about to 
find herself again in a situation as critical, more 
critical perhaps, than in 1914. I say it in all truth, 
at the very thought that Paris could be taken, I wept. 

But one day without explanation the Division was 
hastily relieved ; we were piled into trucks, then into 
freight cars, finally into trucks again, so that after 
an abominable journey we climbed out, the thirty- 
first of May, in the Forest of Villers-Cotterets, 
where we were thrown in skirmish formation to meet 
the Boches, whom we had to check there, cost what 
it might. 

The Parisians of the Division of the Wolves had 
for their mission the saving of Paris. 

Never have I fought so gladly against that vermin 
whose chiefs had dreamed of enslaving my dear Paris. 
Never have I felt so intensely how much I loved my 
city as at the hour when I shuddered to think that 
the hill of Montmartre might be desecrated by the 
foul Boches 

If I live a hundred years I shall never forget that 
advance of sharp-shooters into the woods of Villers- 
Cotterets, with the fear of arriving too late, of 
clashing with an enemy already master of part of 
the position we had to defend. 

Happily the Boches had not yet penetrated into 
the forest. Comrades exhausted, decimated, were 



SECTION HISTORY 57 

still holding its borders. With joy they saw us ar- 
rive, and the enemy himself perceived the same day 
that he had fresh troops in front of him, and that 
things were going to change. Neither trenches nor 
ridges ; it was war on level country ; we clung to the 
roughnesses of the ground, yielding not a metre of 
the precious soil, repulsing the most furious attacks, 
holding under the most violent bombardments. 

Fritz attacked us twice the same day ; he smoth- 
ered us with his sheets of gas ; he crushed us under 
the projectiles from his famous field howitzers which 
had won his initial successes. We swore that he 
should not enter the Forest of Villers-Cotterets ; we 
kept our word. 

Once after a repulsed attack they found on a pris- 
oner the copy of an order of the day written by the 
German general Kundt, and containing the following 
lines : "We found opposing us an infantry hard to 
reduce, and adversaries wholly worthy of respect." 

Thus the Boches themselves render homage to the 
Division of the Wolves ! 

We did better than stop the onslaught ; in the 
course of June we widened our positions ; it was the 
division which recaptured the Javas farm, the 
chateau of Montcreux, the village of Faverolles, then 
Longpont and Corey. 

Then after this hard defensive battle, we prepared 
to take part in the offensive. 

(From "La Division des Loups," by Leon Groc.) 

It will be seen from this account that the Wolves 
entered the Forest on May 31. On June 1 our Sec- 
tion drew into the town of Villers-Cotterets, having 
spent the night under our cars at Vez, a few kilo- 
metres distant. All was in utmost confusion, but 
through the pandemonium one sobering fact showed 
plainly — the Germans were very near. 



58 S. S. U. 585 

"They've passed Dampleux, and are at the out- 
skirts of Villers !" cried a refugee, or — 

"They're only four kilometres away!" shouted 
another as he passed. 

German avions circled back over our heads and 
were met by French battle planes, attacking gamely, 
now falling in flames, now bringing down the Boche. 
Not much noise of big guns was to be heard, a fact 
which was ominous. We knew the French hadn't had 
time to bring up their artillery. The silence of the 
German guns meant one of two things — either they 
too had lacked opportunity to concentrate their 
heavy fire, or else they were already in the Forest, 
advancing behind myriads of machine guns. 

As we reached the main road leading to Villers 
the one cheering omen of the morning met our eyes ; 
the wreck of a German plane. Five minutes later we 
were in the town. It was full of Frenchmen of our 
Division, but not a civilian was to be seen. Shops 
and cafes stood wide open, their goods at the mercy 
of the passer-by, so hurried had been the departure 
of the inhabitants. 

No sooner had we parked the cars in the square 
fronting a chateau than a call came in, requiring 
twelve ambulances at the lines. Not one of these 
twelve drivers expected to return — nor, as Lieu- 
tenant Abbot afterward confessed, did the officers 
have much hope in their chances. 

"Killed or prisoner — heads or tails — which shall 
it be !" was the farewell of the twelve to those left 
at the chateau. But return they did, with cars 
loaded to the guards and cracking under the weight 



SECTION HISTORY 59 

of the wounded. Dave Guggins "rolled" by first, 
looking for the road to the hospital at Betz. A little 
later came Hap Houlihan, with two wounded poilus 
perched on the roof of his ambulance ; after him 
came the others. That was the beginning of a relay 
race with death which continued night and day long 
after every man in the Section was dropping with 
fatigue and want of sleep. 

But here as everywhere humor shone at moments 
through the clouds of war in burlesque and gro- 
tesquerie. During the hottest bombardments of the 
town the fat French cooks might have been seen 
scuttling about, laden with bottles ; though in' deadly 
fear of their lives, they were determined to save the 
rare old wine. Nor was this "souvenir-hunting" 
peculiar to the French. Section 585 did its share, 
and collected a variegated spoil, of which perhaps 
the most interesting article was a dainty pink-and- 
white lace corset, salved by Ballantyne. 

At Dampleux Green and Bowerman resurrected a 
girl's middy outfit of a modish cut, a "Prince Albert" 
coat, and a high silk hat. To this collection Kirby 
added a parasol. Clad in their finery — Green the 
demure lassie, Bowie her gallant, swagger escort — 
they paraded up and down before the poste to the 
uproarious delight of the Frenchmen, including a 
captain. An hour later Green and Bowerman — the 
latter still wearing his silk hat — were driving back 
to the hospital with their cars full of groaning, 
bleeding soldiers, the very poilus who had laughed 
so merrily a short time before. 

To this same poste that day came a humble, sad- 



60 S. S. U. 585 

faced little Frenchman, begging that he might see 
his dearest comrade, who had been wounded that 
afternoon. When he asked us where the comrade 
was, we faltered and stammered, until finally Shively 
succeeded in lying. For we could not tell the little 
poilu that we'd buried his comrade half an hour 
before. 

During these hard days at Villers, Tony Lund- 
gren was in charge of the Section, Sergeant Peters 
having been called away on May 29 to the officers' 
school at Meaux, and Sergeant Hubbard being on 
permission. In this crisis Lundgren showed a down- 
right cool courage, an endurance and a tact that did 
much to inspire the others. The knowledge that it 
was a last-ditch fight did the rest. Not a man failed ; 
hour after hour, day after day, night after night, 
the little Fords rolled to and fro between the forests 
about Dampleux, Fleury and Oigny, where the 
machine guns chattered out their blood-tattoo, to 
the hospitals at Betz, at the end of twenty kilo- 
metres of rough cobblestones. During all these 
hours the Wolves were fighting as they had never 
fought before. It was as we had feared; the Ger- 
mans had massed machine guns by thousands and 
were literally raking the forests with fire. Behind 
these guns came infantrymen, Prussian Guard divi- 
sions, flower of the army — wave after wave to break 
upon that thin blue line which would not yield an 
inch. Often it was cold steel the poilus used to pile 
up Fritz in three-foot heaps and to hurl back his 
brothers who trampled ahead over those still gray 



SECTION HISTORY 61 

mounds. The Wolves fought joyously, with abso- 
lute abandon, often feeling no pain when wounded. 

"Oh, we can't kill enough — that's why I cry — we 
can't kill enough !" shouted a Frenchman, as we lifted 
him to the ambulance. Tears were streaming from 
his eyes and he laughed furiously, knowing nothing 
of the horrible wound that allowed his entrails to 
protrude. 

We knew that it was only a question of time till 
our turn would come. It was a game that sooner or 
later claimed stakes from all. The phenomenal luck 
of 585 held through the first ten days of June. 
During this time the Germans were shelling n6t only 
all the roads and postes, but the town of Villers- 
Cotterets, the very chateau in which we were quar- 
tered, and which was used as an evacuation hospital. 
On June 3, at Dampleux, Kirby Green had a narrow 
escape when a shell crashed into the midst of a group 
who were helping him load his ambulance; two days 
later, at the same place, a "210," exploding under 
Bob Wylie's car, totally wrecked the flivver, not five 
minutes after he had left it. ?vlany of the shells 
landing in Villers took their toll of dead and wounded. 

A strange superstition took possession of us ; we 
found ourselves half wishing some of our number 
would be wounded, even while we shuddered at the 
thought. But we felt that until some mishap should 
occur we were living in a security unnatural, un- 
canny and sinister; enjoying an immunity like that 
of the mouse which the cat caresses before she strikes. 
Such a distorted desire was the result of nerves 
stretched to the snapping point. Days on poste that 



62 S. S. U. 585 

drew to a close in tumult and thunder, under the 
anodyne curtain of dark, and broke into reluctant, 
frightened dawn, at the guns' red awakening; or 
nights — June nights of fragrance and the cool white 
stars — nights hallowed by an immemorial beauty, 
but here racked with moans and the blood-choked 
shriek of hemorrhage, or the garbled prayer of 
delirium : experience of these things, so hideous but 
so real, was telling a bit on our sanity. Yet how 
quickly we swung back to normal under the grief 
that our first loss caused. 

An item in the Section Diary, dated June 10, says 
all that we need tell of the story : 

At 6.45 this evening shell lands in court, near 
kitchen. Bates, who is preparing to go to poste, is 
badly injured by shell fragments. Left foot shat- 
tered, both arms fractured above elbow, left wrist 
badly cut, small wounds elsewhere. Operated on at 
Ambulance 226 this evening. Pretty bad shape. 

Borden gets small piece of eclat in wrist. 

Such is the brief entry, but into those lines must be 
read our thankfulness that others had been spared, 
our rage at the foe who had so hurt this comrade of 
ours and our admiration for the splendid courage 
that bore Bates through the Valley of the Shadow, 
back to life and strength again. During the days in 
the French hospitals, the months in the American 
hospital at Neuilly, and finally the months of con- 
valescence at home, a broken body mended under 
the dictates of a will that never broke. 

At two-thirty in the morning following the wound- 
ing of Bates and Borden, the Section was "alerted," 



SECTION HISTORY 63 

in consequence of a report that the Germans were 
attacking, and that a hurried retreat might be nec- 
essary to avoid capture. But again the Wolves held 
and the attack failed. 

The chateau in which we were quartered had be- 
come a death-trap. The Boche artillery had secured 
perfect range, and each day parts of the old building 
crashed and crumbled under the impact of the big 
"210's." The only place of security was in the deep 
vault underneath. 

But on June 11 we moved to Boursonne, about six 
kilometres from Villers-Cotterets. A new evacuation 
hospital was established at this place, a new route to 
the postes mapped out and the routine work went on. 
By this time the fury of the German onslaught had 
abated. With the comparative stabilizing of the 
lines came an arrangement of permanent postes at 
Dampleux, Fleury, Oigny, Croix de Vouty, and later 
at Croix de Corey. These stations were "fed" by 
cars stationed at Maison Forestiere, this latter point 
serving as "regulatrice" for all movements to and 
from the advanced positions. With the exception of 
Dampleux, these positions were in the woods in 
proximity to the lines; a splendid objective for 
shells, gas and even machine-gun fire. On the other 
hand, life at Maison Forestiere was pleasant, since 
for some unaccountable reason the Germans re- 
frained from shelling the crossroads in front of the 
house. Besides, the cuisine of the poste was excel- 
lent, the cooks being two round little Frenchmen who 
had been chefs in Paris. Over an improvised grill 
in the woods they wrought marvels, and an occa- 



64 S. S. U. 585 

sional dish of wild strawberries, gathered in the fields 
near by, lent a touch to meals that Epicurus might 
have approved. 

Another entry in the Diary reads : 

Under date of June 18 General Segonne cites "a 
Vordre de la Division" the S. S. U. 585 ; also Lieu- 
tenant Abbot, Marechal des Logis Rouger, Corporal 
Lundgren, Bates, Larrabee, Green, Stevens ; and 
cites "a Vordre du Regiment" Ballantyne, Bowerman, 
Larkin, Larsen, Russell, Potter and Wasilik. 

On June 27 the Medecin Divisionnaire decorated 
these men with the Croix de Guerre, at a ceremony 
that began impressively and terminated hilariously. 
An additional cause for celebration was the return 
of Lynch, who had effected a transfer from Section 
646. One casualty marked an otherwise idyllic occa- 
sion; Lyman had the ill luck to fracture his ankle, 
an injury that kept him in the hospital until the last 
of August. 

The first fifteen days of July were in the nature 
of a breathing spell, not only for 585 but for the 
Allies all along the Front. Germany had failed in 
her great purpose; she had made formidable ad- 
vances, but her gains were dust and ashes, for Paris 
rested in smiling security behind her steadfast 
champions, not the least of whom were those splendid 
legions in khaki that the Kaiser said would never 
cross the sea. Under the master hand of Marshal 
Foch, the different armies had been welded into one 
matchless phalanx stretching from the North Sea 
to the Vosges. Never before in the history of the 
world has there existed an army of such strength. 



SECTION HISTORY 65 

under the control of a single will. It is doubtful if 
the Allies themselves realized their power, as they 
waited to strike the blow that was to crush Germany, 
scattering her cohorts like leaves in a storm wind. 

It is said that years of existence can be com- 
pressed into the short span of a dream. In the same 
way ages of life's lessons can be included within the 
narrow limits of one month. During that beautiful 
June — last month of all when blood should flow — 
we had lived years of experience, had seen life and 
death in their most vivid forms, and the instant 
passing of life into death. At Villers-Cotterets the 
Hun had met his bloodiest check. But how many 
blue-clad poilus fought their last there in the Forest 
near Dampleux and Fleury and Oigny — names we 
can never forget ! Our own experiences were many 
and thrilling, but one hesitates to attempt the tell- 
ing. For after all, words fail so signally to depict 
the events whose deepest effects are mental and 
spiritual. Men seen in the last stages of despera- 
tion, in the last frantic grapple for life, or in the 
renunciation, ultimate and complete, of every hope; 
men going laughing to certain doom ; men twisted to 
deformity in a night; men unrecognizable because of 
wounds — nothing left but masses of throbbing, red- 
spouting flesh. Cries, prayers, animal noises ; the 
chatter of madmen, the sobbing of the strong, heart- 
broken — all this, and more. But showing through 
it all, triumph unmistakable — victory through devo- 
tion and sacrifice. There we saw a nobility unbe- 
lievable, and there we learned a contempt for all who 
deal in trivialities. It is impossible that we shall ever 



66 S. S. U. 585 

wholly forget; elemental rage, elemental hunger, ele- 
mental fear, elemental faith have taught us too much. 

On the fourth of July warning came to be ready 
for an attack; it was thought that the Germans, 
hoping to take advantage of any possible relaxation 
consequent upon holiday festivities, might renew 
their quarrelsomeness. Nothing happened. The 
Wolves, always delighting in an opportunity to irri- 
tate Fritz, sent patrols into No Man's Land late the 
night of the third, to plant hundreds of tiny Ameri- 
can flags in a row between the lines. In the morning, 
the Boches, disgruntled and sore, cut loose with 
machine guns until every flag was clipped to the 
ground. This was enough to convince the chuckling 
poilus that Fritz didn't relish the hint intended — 
the ever-growing strength of the Americans. 

The Germans were uneasy, as was plainly revealed 
by the intermittent artillery fire and by their lavish 
use of gas. Two of our men fell victim to this policy. 
On July 9 Potter was put under treatment for 
chlorine fumes, and on the fourteenth Stevens was 
sent to the hospital, suffering from the same cause. 
He remained out of the game until August 25. 

From the tenth to the eighteenth the French 
harassed the enemy unceasingly, concentrating 
pressure upon the town of Corey. A serio-comic 
feature was the employment of Senegalese troops, 
big negroes from central Africa, who fought with 
their native bolo-knives — elongated meat-cleavers — 
and with their wild whooping bade fair to scare Fritz 
to death. The French officers who commanded these 
tar babies had the greatest difficulty in preventing 



SECTION HISTORY 67 

them from returning from battle laden with all sorts 
of unsavoury souvenirs — Boche fingers, ears and 
even heads. 

On July 18 the electrifying message reached us — 
"Our turn has come!" That night the roads were 
packed with troops and guns going up, — and when 
the barrage lifted, the next morning, the Germans 
were in full retreat, leaving hundreds of prisoners. 
It was the beginning of the Franco-American offen- 
sive between Fontenoy and Chateau-Thierry, which 
grew to the relentless advance that never ceased 
throughout the summer and fall, until the Germans, 
reeling back to their very border lines, begged for 
mercy. 

FROM PIERREFONDS TO VEZ* 
By Erland Lukdgren 

Out of Boursonne, where the mysterious shell- 
burst sounds had fostered arguments, technical ones, 
lasting long into the night, we were glad to go. We 
had spent a month here, an unusually long stay for 
such bohemians as we. Fortunately, there had been 
plenty to do. "Les Loups" had earned a good rest ; 
and were going back into reserve for a time. 

We left for Pierrefonds on the twentieth of 
August. There were no sad partings, for the small 
town claimed no village belle. For those who cared, 
moving spelt Hope. And Pierrefonds had a chateau ! 
Long had our dreams formed misty veils of cloud 

* This chapter and the next were written by Lundgren and 
Lyman, respectively, since the events therein related occurred 
while Shively was in the hospital. 



68 S. S. U. 585 

about the walls of some "wonderful" chateau. Now 
our dream seemed about to be realized. We were 
happy enough, perhaps ; but the dream faded into 
thin air as we approached, and we still made our 
abode "in the shadow." 'Twas ever thus. Shadows 
are such futile things, — phantoms of mist and a 
cheerless mind. 

Work was begun at once. The hospital at Pierre- 
fonds was more than crowded with American 
wounded, and cars began evacuating them to Crepy- 
en-Valois, some fifteen or twenty kilometres away. 
The next morning several cars were doing duty on 
the roads around and above Chaudun, and before 
the day was over Lieutenant Abbot and Shively had 
made a part payment of the great price. Shively 
was evacuated with a fractured right leg, wounds in 
the left foot and a broken left arm. The lieutenant's 
right knee was penetrated with a piece of eclat, 
though he refused to be evacuated, and hobbled 
around with a crutch. (Faithful John!) The 
American system was most conspicuous by its ab- 
sence, and we were not at all sorry to "hit the road" 
again on the twenty-third. What pleased us the more 
was that we were going back to our old division, "Les 
Loups," whom God had found not wanting in the 
forests of Bois le Pretre and Villers-Cotterets, and 
whom we had learned to know and love. 

We found them at Le Fayel, not far from Com- 
piegne, a small village, undisturbed by avions and 
peaceful with the fields of waving, yellow wheat. 
Here we were quartered near the park grounds of 
another chateau — the home of some twenty English 



SECTION HISTORY 69 

ambulancieres, with whom the social set began imme- 
diate negotiations. Two of our less erudite com- 
panions, green-eyed, sought solace in the arms and 
affections of a couple of charming nurses from the 
near-by hospital. Marcellus and the younger Peters 
found themselves victims to less interesting compli- 
cations, and were evacuated with the dysentery. 
Some others suffered and were silent. 

But these things could not last forever ; and on the 
twenty-ninth of the seventh month we "picked up 
our tents and stole away," saying "good-bye" rather 
than "au revoir." The dusk of evening found us at 
the "Ferme Thumet," just outside of Taillefontaine. 
It was here that corn syrup and hornets vied with 
one another, and combined to make the kitchen more 
than interesting. "Check" found enough to gray a 
few more hairs in the interim between griddlecakes 
and syrup in the morning and bread and jam at 
noon. After a couple of days on the farm we moved 
up to Couloisy, where we were quartered in an 
altogether too small farmhouse. To alleviate con- 
gestion and the nuisance of tumbling out of a bunk 
to reach the small cave during the nightly air raids, 
many dug for themselves individual caves under the 
roots of trees on the hillside. One or two who 
thought the rest at Le Fayel had been all too short 
found a ready-made dugout, cavernlike — in depth 
akin to the Inferno — and slept through many a night 
unhearing and undisturbed. 

The Division went into the lines near Autreches, — 
lines which had remained set so long that it seemed 
the time had come to change them. Wasem broke the 



70 S. S. U. 585 

monotony of more than a week's posteless life by 
leading his car into camouflage amid the environs of 
Cote (Hill) 120. Three more followed his suit on 
the following day, the first of August, one acting 
as company to him at Hill 120, one in the quarry at 
St. Pierre-les-Bitry and the other at St. Cristophe- 
a-Berry. 

For two weeks the Section "existed" at Couloisy, 
the King of Hearts and his court sitting in con- 
tinual conference, while others, either less clean or 
more aspiring to godliness, soused themselves in the 
sluggish waters of the Aisne. A new poste was es- 
tablished near Berny, called Picardie. It was on 
the narrow, rough road down the hill from Picardie 
to St. Cristophe that Potter almost hopelessly lost 
his bearings, and thought the "Road to Germany" 
led "home" : and down this same hill Larkin's voice 
often trilled nervously "The Song to the Shells": 

Don't pick on me 
In Picardie. 

Out of a diary written at this time we copy : "Aug. 7. 
'Check' claims that the Boches dropped more bombs 
last night than he had ever heard in any previous 
war." Those of us who know "Check," know that 
this statement of his means bombs spelt with a B. 

On the eleventh Lieutenant Jamon, Bradley, Camp- 
bell, Cunningham and Weber were decorated with the 
Croix de Guerre at the Order of the Division, The 
ceremony was performed by "the Old Man." 
Shively and Tremaine received the same honor in 
absentia. 



SECTION HISTORY 71 

Mail in quantity arrived about this time. Chang- 
ing from the 128th to the American sector, then to 
the French army of reserve, later to the army of 
the line, we had given the mail truck a merry chase 
of three weeks. It had won at last, and we were all 
ready to do battle, either for Her or because of her. 

"Pete" came back from officers' school while we 
hung in the balance at Couloisy, — and we felt that 
again we had found the "Lost Leader." 

From Couloisy to Jaulzy was a short, easy step — 
our next move on the thirteenth. Here we found the 
nearest semblance to a chateau ever to be our lot to 
be quartered in — a large farmhouse, with four or five 
large wine cellars which served remarkably well as 
caves. One of the rooms was fitted out with the 
JEolian, and with mirrors, upholstered chairs, read- 
ing and card tables brought from one or another 
room of the house — a fitting reception-room for the 
delayed 14 juillet champagne fete, which the officers 
of the G. B. D. enjoyed with us on the fourteenth 
of August, at which time Marcellus, thin and hag- 
gard, returned like the ghost of Banquo, faithful at 
the feast. 

From the fifteenth to the twenty-fifth things moved 
forward much more rapidly. Hautbraye, Autreches, 
Chevillecourt, Morsain, Ouilly, Berlinval, Vazaponin 
and Bagneux were taken by the Division with many 
prisoners and slight losses. The Section moved its 
headquarters twice during this time ; once to Vache 
Noire, where the quarters were in the Hotel de la 
Gare — and where the wine cellar was preferable to 
the guestroom as a sleeping place, — next, to St. 



72 S. S. U. 585 

Christophe, where an old ruined house sheltered us 
in the shadow of the battered church. 

At Vache Noire Bowerman and Green were evac- 
uated to Villers-Cotterets for dysentery, a disease 
nearly as unpleasant and far less interesting than 
the little circus we were staging, Legeret, faithful 
dog to Jamon, was replaced by Senan, whose faith- 
fulness was far exceeded by his ability as a patisseur, 
which we learned at Vez. 

During the night of the twenty-third- twenty- 
fourth the Division was relieved in the lines, and the 
next morning found us at Vez, where we parked our 
cars under a huge open shed, used also as an open- 
air sleeping place. The water at Vez was pro- 
nounced unfit to drink — a most proper time for 
Richard to return from permission, so we drew 
stronger Pinard rations and were happy. It was 
here that Lyman, D. C. Peters and Stevens came 
back among us, each with his tale of the hospital. 

FROM VEZ TO STADEN 
By L. D. Lyman 

At Vez the Section found shelter for the cars and 
kitchen under a great grain shed adjoining some 
French aviation fields. Our quarters we found in a 
little brick toolhouse on the edge of a great wheat 
plantation, where German prisoners were helping the 
peasant women in the harvest. 

It was at Vez that Tremaine and Googins broke 
all previous records of which we could boast for 
"three days well spent." Only men of their well- 



SECTION HISTORY 73 

known executive ability — one might say genius — 
could have gone to Senlis, conducted research parties 
to the cathedral and other points of interest, re- 
turned, and before the evening of the third day 
washed half the cars in the outfit and cleaned the 
relics of ten months of Crane and Harper from the 
trailer, besides curing Sergeant Peters of what we 
all feared was chronic melancholia. To quote the 
Rural Editor, "A good time was had by all." 

On the morning of September 4 we took the road 
again, and followed it over familiar stamping ground 
through Villers-Cotterets, Fleury, Gare de Ramee, 
Corey, Longpont and Chaudun to Equiry, where we 
spent the night. On the fifth the Division went into 
the lines, above Soissons, before the Chemin-des- 
Dames. The Section discovered quarters along with 
the G. B. D. in the Hospice de Soissons, where it 
remained for three days. On the afternoon of the 
eighth we started for Crouy, across the Aisne, which 
overhangs Soissons two kilometres above the river. 
The next ten days would probably be described in a 
communique officiel as "exceedingly active." The 
cantonnement was under intermittent shell fire, and 
the roads to the postes led over the back of a plateau 
which was everywhere visible to hostile eyes. The 
names Pont Rouge, Nanteuil-la-Fosse and Vauvigny 
carry poignant and unforgetable memories, and con- 
vinced us again of the efficacy of the horse shoe car- 
ried in the right place, and the left hind leg of a 
jack rabbit, slain under a full moon. 

From the eighth to the eighteenth the Division 
des Loups attacked or repulsed attacks every day. 



74 S. S. U. 585 

and sometimes twice or thrice in a day. When the 
evening of the nineteenth found us all intact, gath- 
ered together once more in the shadow of the twin 
spires of the ancient abbey of Soissons, each man 
of us sent his own particular song of thanksgiving 
to the Providence that rides with the ambulance 
driver. 

On the morning of the twentieth we left Soissons, 
and at noon dined and wined at the Cafe de la Gare 
of Clermont, near Beauvais. At eventide, after a 
pursuit race in which "Sims" demonstrated his 
ability to drive to a fighting finish under conditions 
the most extraordinary, we arrived in Dury, near 
Amiens, where we slept, and after another day of 
good speed and fair weather Section 585 settled 
down on the beach between Dunquerque and Calais 
for a rest. 

From September 22 to 26 we repaired cars, swam 
in the Channel, hiked to Dunquerque in the daytime, 
and beguiled the evenings with song and bowl and 
story. The summer had been severe, the Division 
was tired, and the Section "jolly well fed up." The 
time for relaxation had come; a long repos well 
earned and much needed was ours. No more war, 
perhaps, before winter, and if not before winter — 
never! Thus we reasoned, as foolish privates will, 
as we loafed on the sands across from Dover, and on 
the twenty-eighth, after three moves in the "wee sma' 
hours," the Division went up to support the Belgian 
Army between Dixmude and Paschendaele, above 
Ypres, and we went with them. In the first day of 
battle, that of the twenty-eighth, the Belgians and 



SECTION HISTORY 75 

British attacked in a drizzle and drove the Hun 
12,000 yards across the deadest, dirtiest, toughest 
country anywhere along the Front. Langemarck lies 
at a point five miles into this desolation, whence 
originated the phrase "No Man's Land," and it took 
the Section eight hours to get part of the cars there, 
and eighteen to get the rest of them there and under 
way again. We stopped at Langemarck, only be- 
cause it was impossible to go on. Artillery had to 
move, though the little Belgian Army was pushing 
ahead without proper artillery protection. Our 
Frenchmen were way ahead of their artillery, and 
the British had likewise outranged their own field 
pieces. Hence everything gave way to the "75's" 
and the R. F. A. 

And so the battle went on, and ambulances lay 
useless in the mud and the wounded lay out in the 
rain because no one could bring them back until the 
guns had passed. They are the grist and chaff; the 
whole grain must go up that the war shall go on, 
that the red millstones of death shall keep turning. 

We had seen war, a certain amount of war. We 
had always seen the dirty side of war, but we had 
never seen war appear dirtier, more terrible, more 
damnable in all its damnable phases than in those 
forty-oud hours spent in the vicinity of Lange- 
marck and Poel Kappel those last days of September, 
1918. 

On the first of October we moved to Wifwege, 
where we saw British planes bring food to the troops 
when the ration parties could not get through. Our 
own rations were exceedingly low, and our cooks. 



76 S. S. U. 585 

Crane and Harper, lacked anything like ambition 
or ingenuity in a crisis, so the chocolate, meat and 
bread dropped to us by aeroplane helped us to 
appreciate Elijah's state of mind when the ravens 
ran his ration train. 

Wifwege, Cinq Chemins and Woost Roosbeke 
followed each other in quick succession as cantonne- 
ments. It was at Wifwege that Crane and Harper 
were "inducted," as our conscripts would say, out 
of their jobs, and Perkins and Cunningham assumed 
their prerogatives. As one looks back to the period 
when Crane and Harper blasphemed the word food, 
one marvels at the patience and endurance of the 
private soldier. It is only fair to add that Crane 
has since proved himself the most conscientious of 
cooks and the best of good fellows. 

It was at Cinq Chemins that Weber was wounded, 
and that Hank Tremaine lost part of his sweater and 
carried a lame shoulder for some days. 

On the thirteenth of October we were replaced by 
an English section, and the Division went into re- 
serve. On the morning of the fourteenth the second 
big attack of the Yser-Lys offensive started. French 
and English had replaced the Belgians, and the Ger- 
mans retreated rapidly, closely harassed by French 
cavalry and armored motors. 

From the sixteenth on, we moved each day as the 
attack progressed swiftly. At last we were in 
"Belgique Liberee" and among the wounded we 
evacuated were many civilians who dared not or 
could not leave their homes as the attack went over. 
For four years the region here had been German. 



SECTION HISTORY 77 

German aviation fields, German cemeteries, German 
railroad shops and factories gave evidence of the 
permanency and future of German occupation. 

By George Shively 

From Staden, which we reached on the sixteenth, 
to Vive St. Bavon, where we camped on the twenty- 
ninth, our recollections are as drab and monotonous 
as the settlements through which we journeyed. 
Hooglede, Coolscamp, Iseghem, Emelghem, Oostrose- 
beke — names unlovely and unloved. A spice of 
interest was added, however, by the fact that the 
Germans had mined many of the roads, so that one 
never knew at what moment he and his flivver were 
at the gates of Kingdom Come. Furthermore the 
Boches bombed us most industriously each night. 

At Iseghem Borden and Lewis received cita- 
tions "a Vordre de la Division," and were decorated 
by the redoubtable "Old Man" — the Medecin Divi- 
sionnaire. 

On the last day of October another Allied attack 
was launched, in which the Americans and the French 
of our sector worked together. That morning we 
witnessed a literal example of Kipling's dawn that 
"comes up like thunder" — a beautiful sunrise, to the 
accompaniment of a drum-fire barrage that glad- 
dened the heart. A dense white vapor clung like a 
shroud over the flat plain of the Lys, blending by 
livid nuances into a sky like mother-of-pearl. A 
hint of rose-pink crept up the gray, gradually warm- 
ing into an opaline glow. The mist began to lift, 
twisting in fantastic spirals against the deepening 



78 S. S. U. 585 • 

color in the east. From half the arc of the horizon 
came the rumble of the guns, growing in volume with 
the growing light, swelling to a mighty crescendo as 
suddenly the sun appeared. Like magic every trace 
of mist dissolved. From far overhead came the angry 
whine of hundreds of shells, en route for the German 
lines. The level ground floor quivered and vibrated 
like the tympanum of a drum under the shock of the 
explosions. 

It was experience of such moments that made the 
Great Front our first love; the place which, with all 
its hardships and dangers, sent out the strongest 
call. For it was the place where the vanguard of 
civilization moved, bloody, mudstained, unshaven, 
rude in manners, violent in thought, but representing 
all the powers of love and peace. As we listened to 
that terrific, beautiful barrage, we were happy as 
children and capered about like clowns. For how 
ugly it must have been to Fritz ! 

At any rate, he retreated, taking the last step in 
the long road of defeat he'd been following for 
months. Eleven days later the armistice was signed. 

The Section was quartered in a little mudhole 
called Vive St. Eloi when the hostilities ceased. 
Sergeant Peters had been called away to receive his 
commission, and Ray Sjostrom, whom we had left 
at Sandricourt, rejoined us here, in time to make 
merry over peace. Our celebration was limited in 
violence by the lamentable lack of anything to cele- 
brate with. We yelled a bit, shook hands with sev- 
eral regiments of Frenchmen, three or four times to 
a man, watched the poilus shoot star shells, then 



SECTION HISTORY 79 

crawled into our blankets again, with a perverse 
feeling that it was almost a shame to discontinue so 
good a war. 

AFTER THE ARMISTICE 

The story of our doings after the armistice need 
not be long. Extracting ourselves from the mud of 
Vive St. Eloi we girt up our loins, cranked up the 
Fords and started upon what proved to be a 
triumphal tour through Belgium to Germany. The 
route lay by way of Audenarde, Brussels, Louvain, 
Tirlemont, — home of pastry too good for the gods, — 
on to Liege, and finally Verviers, last stop before 
Germany. We were often acclaimed the saviours of 
Belgium, the liberators of the world, the heralds of 
the millennium, etc., — in short, the ne plus ultra of 
everything admirable and beatific, — and as such, 
were charged double prices. A certain element of 
these worshipful folk, doubtless a bit dazed by the 
violence of their emotions of gratitude and snatched 
away into a rapture of the spirit, lost control over 
the workings of their bodies, with the result that tve 
lost control over three new tires, nine blankets, sev- 
eral souvenir guns, two pairs of boots, a haversack, 
a box of cigars and a set of tools, besides a St. Ber- 
nard dog and certain hors d'ceuvres that were not 
catalogued. However, kleptomania must not be re- 
garded as the national purpose of Belgium. It must 
be remembered that we were traveling through a 
country that had been occupied by the Germans for 
four years and German Kultur was bound to draw 
some disciples. Furthermore, the few cases of extor- 
tion and thieving stand out the more pronouncedly 



80 S. S. U. 585 

by contrast with the almost universal kindness that 
was shown us. Nearly every man in the Section 
today numbers among his friends Belgians of the 
best families who threw open to him the doors of 
their exclusive homes. 

We saw little actual suffering. But the prices 
were fearfully high; for instance, a five-cent cake of 
chocolate cost about a dollar. Bread was plentiful, 
vegetables not lacking, and meat could be had every- 
where if one had the "price." In Brussels and Liege 
especially life was made pleasant for us by the lavish 
hospitality of the inhabitants who received us into 
their homes. Most of these people had easily borne 
the burden of German occupation, suffering in spirit 
doubtless, but in body only to a limited extent. 
Their financial losses had been proportionately as 
great as the losses of the poor, but to them it meant 
inconvenience ; to the poor, starvation and ruin. 

Belgium was quick to recover a semblance of pros- 
perity after the departure of the Germans. In the 
cities, cafes and theatres were crowded, and plenty 
of money was in circulation. But such affluence is 
fictitious ; beyond the glow of the cities' lights lie 
ruined villages, devastated fields, and factories 
stripped bare of machinery, useless shells of indus- 
try. Until labor applies its hand once more to these 
fields and these factories the wealth of the cities must 
remain a sham — the dwindling traces of a stream 
whose fountainhead is dry. 

Everywhere we found evidence of the efficiency of 
Hoover's system of provisioning. Without the Amer- 
ican food vast numbers of the population would 



SECTION HISTORY 81 

inevitably have starved. Such was the testimony we 
heard on all sides. 

About the ninth of December we crossed the border 
and took up our abode among the gentle Boches. 
Our duties were largely sedentary. Most of this 
heavy sitting around was done at Aix-la-Chapelle, 
Charlemagne's old capital, though we spent some 
three weeks at Jiilich, farther "inland," at which 
place we partook of a Christmas dinner like those 
known only at home or in dreams. The Division was 
quartered in the neighboring small towns. There 
were no wounded to care for, of course, but many 
of the poilus got sick — due rather to the company 
than to the climate, doubtless. During this period 
of comparative idleness the problem of morale in the 
Division became critical, particularly so on account 
of Bolshevistic theories that throve in the shallow 
soil of discontent which was the natural reaction 
from the months of war. No serious trouble 
threatened ; the Frenchman, who always talks more 
pessimistically than he thinks, was simply express- 
ing his very reasonable desire to go home. This 
desire was by no means confined to the poilus. In 
Section 585 Bowerman headed a formidable Bol- 
shevik movement that broke on the shoals of higher 
authority, and resulted in a copious supply of per- 
manent "K. P's." The question of amusement 
became paramount, and out of the confusion arose 
two fairly well-defined parties, one professing faith 
in the power of conviviality to raise men's spirits, 
the other believing that the same results could be 
obtained by reading and study — incidentally by 



82 S. S. U. 585 

work upon this book. The bibulous contingent said, 
"When in Germany do as the Germans do" — which, 
as a slogan, was a political error, for the other side 
crushingly responded, "Don't do as the Germans do, 
no matter where you are." Seeking support in the 
philosopher, the Conservatives reminded their oppo- 
nents that reading maketh a full man, to which the 
Radicals retorted that drinking maketh a man full, — 
of the two the more desirable condition under the 
circumstances. As the supply both of liquor and 
books was meagre, the question was more academic 
than practical, and its discussion afforded more 
amusement than its solution could have furnished. 
Ennui suffered an occasional shock when the Division 
put on a show, usually a "revue,'^ featuring the 
famous "Poilu Chorus," which, though clad in ortho- 
dox pink tights and lace, by reason of its bristly 
ambush of beard looked more like Birnam Wood 
moving to Dunsinane than like a footlight row of 
Ziegfeld sweeties. 

Though we ourselves were comfortably quartered 
and well fed, it was easy to see that Germany had 
staked all and lost. Food was scarce; the bread a 
vile black substance, containing little nutriment, 
meat almost non-existent. Strangely enough the 
pastry shops made a great display of tempting pies 
and cakes, which, however, upon investigation were 
found to be largely pneumatic, and so fragile that 
they had to be inhaled rather than eaten. 

The behavior of the natives toward us was cour- 
teous and friendly — forcement. Our attitude toward 
them might be described as "fifty-fifty" — we gave 



SECTION HISTORY 83 

them credit for being outwardly decent, but reserved 
the right to consider them liars a priori, if we were 
so inclined. Discounting for the moment any good 
will that may have existed, there were two reasons 
at least why the population of Aix sought to make 
friends with the Americans ; the fact that we were 
not so likely to break their heads as the French and 
Belgians were, and secondly, the presence of a goodly 
number of giant howitzers within easy range of all 
the fine buildings of the city. Good behavior was 
evidently their best card to play. 

But they so often overplayed it. We mistrusted 
the protesting humanitarian of today who was a 
blusterer yesterday, and felt contempt rather than 
friendship for the renegades who too loudly de- 
nounced the Kaiser and all his system. A favorite 
performance of the Germans was to seek to engage 
us in conversation, upon no matter what subject. 
For example, one old codger entertained us for half 
an hour one night in a cafe explaining how, by a 
scientific diet, etc., he had prolonged his life to 
seventy-five years — but neglected to explain the more 
pertinent and puzzling question of why he had so 
prolonged it. At another seance a woman under- 
took to enlighten us upon the matter of the Lusi- 
tania, with a view to proving the righteousness of 
Germany's action — a demonstration to which she 

failed to add Q. E. D. On the other hand we may 

have met sincere Germans. We don't know. 

Shortly after Christmas we received orders to 
return to Belgium, got as far as Liege, and were 
sent back to Aix-la-Chapelle, there to remain until 



84 S. S. U. 585 

March 12, when Section 537 arrived to replace us, 
and in mingled joy and regret we bade adieu to the 
Wolves. 

THE HOMEWARD JOURNEY 

The first move on the home stretch took us to 
Paris. The journey, though long, was accomplished 
in comparative comfort, and without resort to the 
"40 hommes — 8 chevaux" cars usually employed. 
Lieutenant Abbot, being canny and longheaded in 
such matters, sent Borden and Bradley on ahead to 
Liege, to secure for the Section a private car — an 
enterprise moderately ambitious. This they did, 
after some rather lurid dealings with a scandalized 
station master. Not only did we get a good coach, 
we got the only passenger coach on the train. 

Several immaculate Belgian officers, attempting 
to enter with all their baggage, were met by the 
emphatic American advice, "Stay out — reserved !" 

"You are only private soldiers," haughtily re- 
sponded the Belgian captain ; "how dare you order 
us out.P What do you mean by trying to reserve a 
second-class coach?" 

"There were no first-class coaches on this miser- 
able Belgian train," blandly explained Bradley. 
"There is room up ahead, however" — pointing to the 
long line of freight cars. 

"Oh, these Americans — these Americans !" chor- 
used the fuming grandees as we barred the doors 
against them. 

We reached Paris on the fifteenth, having spent 
some time and more energy pushing our cherished 
private car about the yards at Noisy-le-Sec even as 



SECTION HISTORY 85 

in the days of our novitiate, when we had done 
switch-engine duty at St. Nazaire. At Paris we were 
offered the privileges and drawbacks of Headquar- 
ters, but most of the men slept in hotels, preferring 
to pay much and see much rather than pay nothing 
and see nothing. 

About eleven the night of the seventeenth we 
arrived at the Base Camp, no longer at Sandricourt, 
but at Ferrieres-en-Gatennais. Being different from 
Sandricourt it was of necessity an improvement. All 
base camps are bad, because they are the places 
where one merely marks time, while he waits for 
excitement to come or regrets excitement past. 
Employment of some sort is considered necessary to 
sanity, though it is an open question whether sanity 
is necessary at a base camp. It was the duty of a 
group of sergeants to provide for us this employ- 
ment, at Ferrieres. That they fulfilled this duty 
seemed to us bad enough, but that they found the 
duty congenial was the thing that drew down 
anathema. So unfathomable is the soul of man that 
it can comprehend chaos resolving into divine order, 
and can interpret deep answering unto deep, but it 
finds itself stumped to explain why a G. I. can of 
garbage should be moved from point A to point B, 
and back again, nine times in the course of an hour, 
or why twelve men with rakes should be delegated to 
manicure sixteen square feet of stubble, or why 
Private Perkins, having emptied three hundred spit- 
boxes, escaped being ordered to fill them again — 

"and to report to Sergeant when he had 

finished." 



86 S. S. U. 585 

Due to the fact that sundry of the governing 
powers most vitally concerned with us were of 
Hebraic extraction, and hadn't been extracted far 
enough, we were inclined to regard our hardships as 
a recrudescence of the age-old persecution of the 
Christians. Some of the men favored declaring a 
holy war, while others advocated a series of punitive 
pogroms, centering about the chief sanitary ser- 
geant and working outward, until the New Testa- 
ment supplanted the Old. But too much was at 
stake ; to rise against the hierarchs would have been 
to stay among them indefinitely, while more docile 
martyrs were shipped home. 

On the twenty-fifth we submitted to that occult 
rite known as delousing. We had heard fearful tales 
of this mysterious process and were prepared to 
undergo an ordeal at least equivalent to the worst 
tortures of the Inquisition. There was no escape ; 
every man was considered guilty until rendered in- 
capable of guilt through an immunity beautiful in 
theory but ridiculous in practice. It was rather an 
anti-climax to discover that delousing meant simply 
a bath — and a bum bath at that. Our clothes were 
treated a bit more strenuously, being put through a 
boiler of superheated steam. 

We were then placed in quarantine, which meant 
that we were moved from dry quarters into a leaky 
tent, surrounded by mud, and commanded to stay 
there. Fortunately the Red Cross and Y. M. C. A. 
had establishments on the grounds, where the books 
from the library and the smiles from "Sister Sue" 
proved of paramount solace. 



SECTION HISTORY 87 

On the twenty-sixth our impedimenta was in- 
creased by an issue of infantry packs and our per- 
sonnel by the addition of Sergeant Roberts from 
Section 582 and Private Barnes from the casual 
detachment. Six days later we entrained for Brest, 
this time traveling after the orthodox fashion, in 
freight cars, reaching our destination on the fourth 
of April. 

The embarkation depot at Brest had borne an un- 
savory reputation some months earlier, but at the 
time of our arrival conditions had so changed that 
it was in all respects a model camp. Here, perhaps 
better than at any other place in France, one caught 
a glimpse of the wonder-workings of American enter- 
prise and the vastness of the American conception of 
the war. It is needless to describe the camp in detail. 
Suffice it to say that one hundred thousand men 
could be fed, clothed, sheltered and given medical 
attention. Furthermore, these hundred thousand 
could be kept busy — much too busy, we thought. 
Ferrieres, with all its garbage "details," was a rest 
camp compared with Brest. For at the latter place 
the troops worked night and day, with no such thing 
as a holiday. No one dared object audibly, for the 
same reason that held us in check at our Base 
Camp — fear of being kept off the sailing orders. 

After again being deloused, inspected, tested and 
vouched for, we boarded the transport Great North- 
ern, sailing April 12. It was with a feeling not all 
joy that we watched the receding shores of France. 
Due to our association with the French Army, we 
had had the privilege of knowing the French people 



88 S. S. U. 585 

to a degree impossible for the strictly American 
troops. We had learned to love their unfailing 
courtesy, to feel their quick sympathy, and to rever- 
ence their spotless courage. It is safe to say that no 
S. S. U. man will ever agree with those Americans 
who constantly seek to discredit and belittle the 
French. Such criticism is the fruit of utter mis- 
understanding. 

But if the feelings of the Section were mixed as 
we drew out of port, within an hour's time there was 
no question about it — all but about five were more 
wretched than they had ever been before or expect 
to be again. It is wise and merciful to say little 
about that voyage; no one in the outfit wants to be 
reminded of it. The fact that we were going home 
meant nothing then, while the fact that we'd come 
through a great war alive was in itself bitterness, 
for we wished that we were dead. Only the extreme 
weakness of our men kept them from scuttling the 
ship for the sake of a watery grave. The Great 
Northern was a speedy craft but rough. Further- 
more, we ran through storms practically the whole 
way across. No more need be said. 

On the morning of Easter Sunday we disembarked 
at Hoboken, and by ten that evening were quartered 
at Camp Dix. Again we were deloused, — by this 
time we were sure that the government was trying 
to insult us, — given new underclothing, relieved of 
our packs, and after two days under the tutelage of 
a tough old army sergeant were "honorably dis- 
charged," April 23 — and invited to reenlist. Up to 
date no member of 585 has accepted this invitation. 



SECTION HISTORY 89 

"It there's another war, my children shall fight 
it," declared Wasem. 

"Yea-a-a-ay, Bo !" agreed Guggins. 
Which is the present policy of us all. 

The End 



THE "MEDECIN DIVISIONNAIRE" 

By Lieut. John R. Abbot 

The term "Medecin Divisionnaire" ordinarily 
means, in French Army parlance, the grade or office 
corresponding to that of division surgeon in the 
United States Army, but to the members of S. S. U. 
585 the words will always be used as proper nouns 
referring to one particular man, Lieutenant-Colonel 
Lejonne, chief of the sanitary service of the 128th 
Division, during the months of our service with that 
organization. From the first days of our joining 
the Division, back in Baccarat in December, 1917, 
to the day in January of 1919 when he was promoted 
to the rank of colonel and left to take up his new 
work as "Directeur du Service de Sante" in Tunis, 
his word was law to Section 585. 

Our first impressions, like those of many who 
worked under him for the first time, were not wholly 
favorable, for his keen gray eyes, looking out behind 
big steel-bowed spectacles, and his long, bristling 
moustaches gave him an appearance of fierceness 
which his decidedly abrupt manner of speaking did 
not in the least tend to lessen. He had a habit of 
saying exactly what he thought, and his words were 
often disconcertingly frank. But it was not long 
before we learned that there was always a twinkle 
in those keen gray eyes, and that the abruptness of 



THE MEDECIN DIVISIONNAIRE 91 

speech was never quite so fearsome as one was led 
to suppose at first. His brusque manner could not 
conceal the deep kindliness of the heart within. He 
used to say himself that he was purposely gruff and 
short in bestowing his favors in order to save people 
the bother of thanking him. Compliments and flat- 
tery he would have none of. 

Even in the early days at Baccarat we began to 
appreciate his wonderful spirit of dauntless energy 
and unflinching devotion to duty which we came to 
admire so sincerely in the sterner days which fol- 
lowed. As an old soldier he demanded a strict and 
exacting obedience from everyone who came under 
his command, and he saw to it that his orders were 
carried out to the letter. No detail, however small, 
escaped his eye, and no excuse sufficed to cover up 
a mistake in his sight. He would take nothing for 
granted; he always "had to be shown." How often 
during those strenuous days of action, when we were 
frequently moving from place to place, has he ar- 
rived to inspect our newly taken quarters, demanded 
at once to know if our portable telephone was in- 
stalled, if it worked; and then, even after an affirma- 
tive reply, tried the apparatus himself to make 
certain ! And how often on those occasions has he 
given us a few terse words of sarcasm, when, as 
sometimes happened, the telephone did not work! 
He was impatient and sharp at times, but never un- 
just or unreasonable. Above all, we knew that he 
was very fond of his S. S. U. 

His first thought was always for the comfort of 
his wounded, and he made that the guiding prin- 



92 S. S. U. 585 

ciple of his service. Whenever he felt that the good 
of that service demanded his presence in the front- 
line first-aid posts or battalion dressing stations — 
and that was very often — he went without the 
slightest hesitation. Fear was something he did not 
know. During the days of an attack, office work was 
entirely forgotten, and all his time was given to 
directing the evacuation of wounded at the Front. 
He threw himself into his work with a complete dis- 
regard of danger and fatigue, and exacted the same 
steadfastness to duty from his subordinates. Among 
the men of the division the sanitary formations were 
often called the "S. S. U. cVattaque," and the 
"G. B. D. cVassauf' because the Divisionnaire always 
posted them so near the lines. The sanitary service 
was well known throughout the Division for its effi- 
ciency, and we, proud in that knowledge, tried to 
play our part to the best of our ability, for we had 
a leader whom we trusted and admired. 

Such was — and is, for his memory will live always 
in our thoughts — the Medecin Divisionnaire, known 
more familiarly to the section as the "Old Man," a 
splendid man and a splendid soldier who made Duty 
and Service his two supreme ideals, and set the 
example to all in unselfish devotion to those ideals. 



PINARD 

By Guy E. Bowerman 

Author's Note. It was at Sandricourt that we 
first met M. Pinard, and I recall how we all disliked 
it. "Chappy" professed a liking for it, because he 
wished to give a hard-boiled impression, but the rest 
of us drank it because we were told that at the Front 
good water was not to be had, and we decided we 
might as well learn to like it, though at the time we 
reckoned Socrates a lucky dog, seeing that he only 
had to drink hemlock. During the months which 
followed we lost our extreme distaste for Pinard, and 
at one time a large barrel was placed in a spot con- 
venient to all. The barrel cost us three hundred 
francs each time it was filled, and the boys set them- 
selves manfully to the task of emptying it. The 
first barrel went well, the second more slowly, though 
our David did his best. The third would be full yet 
had not Mathe and Richard de la nez rouge been 
with us. So we decided to bid the barrel adieu, much 
to the sorrow of Mathe and Richard, who paid noth- 
ing towards keeping it full and did so much towards 
keeping it empty. So much for that. 

To those who paid no visit to France during the 
eventful years 1917 and 1918, it may be necessary to 
say that "Pinard" is the name given, in army slang. 



94 S. S. U. 585 

to the red wine issued daily to the poilu. Before 
the war Pinard was issued only on fete days, and was 
known as "vin ordinaire," with the accent on the 
"ordinaire." It was in no great favor with the sol- 
diers until war was declared, at which time the issue 
became daily, in quantity varying with circum- 
stances, but usually three "quarts" or three fourths 
of a litre. 

What the reasons were for issuing this wine I do 
not know; probably the idea was merely to provide 
a substitute for those existent table wines a French- 
man has with his meals. Granted that this was the 
reason, I doubt greatly that the "powers which be" 
guessed how popular and indispensable this Pinard 
was to become. In view of the recent acts of Con- 
gress I have no desire to ally myself, by a defense of 
an alcoholic brew, with those interests whose Mecca 
is Milwaukee, but I must say that the uses of Pinard 
far outweigh its abuses. Before I open the case for 
the defense I wish to have it known that the following 
observations are the result of eighteen months' asso- 
ciation with Pinard, and only a man in, or connected 
with, the French Army can know how much Pinard 
I have observed during eighteen months. 

As I have already said, Pinard in some measure 
takes the place of the wine which the Frenchman 
enjoys "en civile." I say "in some measure" advis- 
edly, for a Frenchman always insists that it is only 
fit to wash one's hands in, and that before the war 
no one would think of drinking the stuff. So you see 
it is all-important to remember that Pinard is in no 
way a representative French wine, and the poilu 



PINARD 95 

curses it with the same breath that he curses some- 
body for only giving "trois quarts" when he wants 
"deux litres.'" Again, Pinard quenches thirst when 
there is no fit drinking water available. Perhaps 
this use is not worth mentioning, inasmuch as a 
Frenchman so rarely drinks water that one is re- 
minded of the Kentucky colonel, who, having been 
hurled into a river during a train wreck, and being 
asked if he were injured, responded, "No" — with 
great spirit — "never swallowed a damn drop !" 
Nevertheless there are Frenchmen who prefer water, 
and to these Pinard at least provides a safe way of 
quenching thirst. 

The Americans have never looked upon Pinard as 
a thirst-quencher, but during the first days of the 
Belgian offensive we drank it eagerly and blessed 
the man who was responsible for its appearance in 
French rations. Those who are acquainted with a 
"cuisine roulante" know how greasy are the soups 
and meat and potatoes ; Pinard cuts this grease like 
mechanic's soap and undoubtedly does much to keep 
the poilu's tummy functioning in the proper manner. 
I am sure that the percentage of men in the French 
Army suffering with stomach trouble is considerably 
lower than in any other allied army, and I am equally 
sure that Pinard is responsible. It will not be out 
of the way to mention at this time that it is a curious 
fact that when "en poste," eating French food, we 
drink our Pinard with relish, but in barracks the 
stuff tastes extremely bitter. 

In fairness to W. J. Bryan and Josephus Daniels 
it must be said that Pinard is sometimes abused. 



96 S. S. U. 585 

Sometimes — but very, very seldom, and I have seen 
only three Frenchmen drunk on Pinard. When it 
comes to "kick," Pinard and beer go arm in arm. 
It can be done, but it takes so long that only young 
men can afford to try, and such large quantities are 
necessary that small men are inconvenienced. As a 
nerve tonic or exhilarator, hot Pinard (with or with- 
out sugar) can keep pace with any "licker" going, 
and in a warm sector, or on fete days, it is not 
unusual to see several "quarts" simmering away over 
a fire. It is rumored that hot Pinard caused one of 
our "silent partners" to miss an extremely good 
Christmas dinner, and at the Fete de la Decoration, 
a foundation of Pinard with a superstructure of 
champagne caused one to weep, another to bully a 
champagne case, and several others to sleep in out- 
of-the-way places and ungraceful attitudes. 

On the whole, Pinard is harmless, and I am inclined 
to believe that the strongest indictment against it is 
that of a doughboy at Soissons, who said "If these 
Frenchies had of been here they'd uv stopped on that 
hill yonder to have a drink of vin rouge, and the 
fritzes would uv kept 'em stopped." 

It is astonishing how near the expression, "Pas de 
Pinard, pas de guerre!" comes to being true. This 
expression, let it be known, is used as a jest, but at 
the same time there is some foundation for it, and I 
do not know anything the lack of which can make 
the poilu, veteran of a thousand hardships, so surly 
and unsociable. I do not mean to imply that he 
would refuse to fight without Pinard, but it is true 
that a contented man fiffhts better than a discon- 



PINARD 97 

tented one, and a poilu's contentment varies directly 
as the amount of Pinard on hand. He will go with- 
out bread and meat, and he will eat cabbage day 
after day; if he has to, he will lie in a water-soaked 
hole, he will march twenty kilometres carrying a load 
such as only a poilu carries, but take away or delay 
his Pinard issue and you have trouble on your hands. 
Because of this, every effort is made to get the issue 
to the men. In Belgium, that first week, when every 
bit of traffic had to go over one wrecked road, all but 
impassable; when this road was blocked for hours at 
a time with mired wagons and artillery; when we 
were fed by avions ; when wounded men were dying 
because no ambulances could reach them, and enough 
artillery couldn't be brought up to support an 
attack, I saw King Pinard's carriage ploughing 
through the mud, and every time the played-out 
horses stuck, a score of eager volunteers put their 
shoulders to his wheels and moved him on, though 
caissons full of "ammo" lay mired by the side. 

A French soldier, if he likes you, will share his 
meagre rations and his ofttimes more meagre bed; 
you are his friend, his comrade. But should he offer 
to share his Pinard, then indeed are you admitted to 
the inner shrine, a true brother — "un copain." 



LA PETITE VOITURE 

(With apologies to Kipling) 

By Norman Hubbard 

Oh! It's Lizzie this and Lizzie that, 
And an "ugly hunk of tin," 
But it's petites voitures forward. 
When the ranks begin to thin. 

They say your system's lousy, 

And you eat a lot of gas. 

That your holler in'ards rattle 

An' your joints are made of glass. 

Oh ! They say that you are 'opeless 

And you're always in the way, 

That your radiator's leaky, 

That your guts is made of clay. 

For : It's Lizzie this and Lizzie that, 
And an "ugly hunk of tin," 
But it's petites voitures forward, 
When the ranks begin to thin. 

The frog Conducteurs cuss you 
When the staff cars you push past, 
But they're fooling in the rear zone. 
And you're rushin' forward fast. 
Oh ! The convoys they get ugly. 
When you cut into their lines. 
For they've found themselves in shell holes 
Where you've ditched them — of'en times. 
For : It's Lizzie this and Lizzie that, 
And an "ugly hunk of tin," 
But it's petites voitures forward. 
When the ranks begin to thin. 



LA PETITE VOITURE 99 

They flay you and they cuss you 

When you go up with the attack, 

But they're looking mighty solemn 

When you pass them comin' back. 

For they're hoping and they're praying 

That you'll be there on the job, 

When they themselves are blessed. 

And their wounds are pounding hard. 
For : It's Lizzie this and Lizzie that. 
And an "ugly hunk of tin," 
But it's petites voitures forward, 
When the ranks begin to thin. 

When weary Peter finds you, 

A-limpin' slow outside the yard, 

And the Packards and the Locos 

Pass you by a-lookin' hard, 

01' St. Peter'll have to greet you, 

With the keys of Blessed State, 

For the poilus, in their glory, 

Will be hollerin' if you're late. 

For: It's Lizzie this and Lizzie that. 
And an "ugly hunk of tin," 
But it's petites voitures forward. 
When the ranks begin to thin. 



MERCI, ADELE 

By Norman Hubbarb 

Merci, Adele, Merci, 
Vous etes une chere amie, 
Les billets doux, 
Envoyes de vous, 
Re9us de nous, 
Merci, Adele, Merci ! 

Merci, Adele, Merci, 
Vos sucres cocoas, 
Ont traverse 1' eau, 
Re^us de nous, 
Merci, beaucoup, 
Merci, Adele, Merci! 

Merci, Adele, Merci, 
Vous etes une chere amie, 
Nos modestes coeurs, 
Envoyons nous tou jours 
Re9ois de nous, 
Merci, Adele, Merci ! 



THA MAN 

By Norman Hubbard 

Ae ! Here's ta ye, tha Lieut, 

John, 
Here's ta ye, tha Lieut. 
We nae forget ye scule, 

John, 
Ye cam frae hathen parts, 
We nae forget yer gold, 

John, 
Ye alway haed a heart. 

Then here's ta ye, tha Lieut, 

John, 
Ae ! Here's ta ye, tha Lieut. 

We cuss ye when ye drave, 

John, 
Ye drave sa diel fast. 
We cuss ye cause o' lave, 

John, 
Our tame ae alway past. 

But here's ta ye, tha Lieut, 

John, 
Ae ! Here's ta ye, tha Lieut. 

Ye nae kin kape a jit, 

John, 
Ye mash em ale tha tame. 
Ye nather smoke nae thrink, 

John, 
Ye gate thare, jest tha same. 
Then here's ta ye, tha Lieut, 

John, 
Ae ! Here's ta ye, tha Lieut. 



102 S. S. U. 585 

We 'ave cussed ye leke tha diel, 

John, 
We 'ave cussed yer viery clan, 
But we ken yer dielish courage, 

John, 
We ken ye ae nervie man, 

Ae ! Here's ta ye, tha Man, 

John, 
Ae ! Here's ta ye, tha Man. 



CONTRASTS 
By Clarence I. Bradley 

In any war there have been distinctive features of 
the men engaged that have characterized what we 
choose to call the "morale" of the army ; in reality, 
the predominating characteristics of the various 
individuals, the nucleus around which forms the — 
not guiding perhaps, but — controlling spirit' of the 
whole. In this war it is not alone the dreadfulness 
of it, nor yet the bravery of the men engaged that 
stood forth. These two things need no mention here 
to be realized even by the most remote. But the thing 
that was hardest to grasp and yet so vitally signifi- 
cant was the unceasing search, even groping, of the 
men for something to laugh about. This is true of 
their repos and barracks life, but more especially 
true of their life on the battle front in the midst of 
desperate and tragic situations. 

To meet privations, sufferings and the chances of 
death without flinching, is one thing. But to make 
a joke of discomforts, to turn one's own sacrifice 
into a jest, to look Death in the face with that serene 
smile, born of the confidence in their cause — that is 
one of the most wonderful things of this war. That 
is the poilu as we have seen him, and likewise is it true 
of his brothers-in-arms of the Allied Entente. 

Many times have we beheld him accomplish these 



104- S. S. U. 585 

things ; heard his dry humor when it was the sum of 
his dryness for days untold; times without number 
have we borne him wounded, fearful lest we cause 
him undue suffering, in the end to smile in sympathy 
with some whispered jest over his pitiful plight; 
seen him die bravely, simply, crowned with a quiet 
exaltation as he passed to his Maker. 

Most incidents impress themselves vividly on the 
mind. And while we are acutely conscious of the 
event at the moment, time and leisure to review these 
happenings serve to make them stand forth in their 
many contrasting phases. Perhaps specific inci- 
dents can best serve the point. 

On leaving Rethondes for Villers-Cotterets it is 
necessary to cross the Aisne River by a very narrow 
bridge — barely wide enough for one-way traffic. 
Our convoy of cars had reached about midway of 
the bridge when it was halted by a jam in a French 
mule convoy ahead of us. Let it be said here, that 
an army mule at best is an unruly beast and that a 
French army mule with the prospect of being 
"Hun'd" out of existence is the devil's own contriv- 
ance to plague the souls of men. At first this halt 
seemed but an ordinary annoyance, but we were soon 
undeceived when the drone of a Hun avion became 
evident above the hum of our motors. The vain 
attempts of the cicerone of one mule to prevent his 
charge from smashing our motorcycle and at the 
same time secure himself a safe retreat from the 
Hun's strafing were ludicrous despite the situation. 
The attention of all near by was equally divided in 
seeking a safe shelter and watching or assisting the 



CONTRASTS 105 

muleteer in his predicament. From all sides came 
the soulful condemnation of the "Boche !" "Cochon !" 

"Sale Boche!" " !"— interlarded with a 

more playful yet none the less damning vituperation 
of the mule. The situation was fraught with un- 
comfortable possibilities when the opening up of an 
"Archie" battery disposed of the avion, bringing it 
down — but the mule was not reduced to a state of 
reasonable docility until he had smashed the spring 
of our motor sidecar ! Order returned, all continued 
on their way. Not merrily perhaps, yet with danger 
forgotten in the farcical episode which produced a 
laugh when things looked most uncomfortable. 

All one afternoon and night we forged our way 
through a ceaseless stream. A stream composed of 
refugees, bound they knew not whither, but fleeing 
from the awful menace of an insatiable monster, with 
nothing but the few valuables they could carry — all 
that was left to them of their homes and their past 
life; of troops retreating, worn out and broken 
against the surging crest of the German wave, yet 
their tired, harried faces ever expressive of their con- 
fidence of the time to come when they should turn to 
dam the flood — forged through this to arrive at 
Villers in the mists of early morning. Here all was 
lowering and sombre, punctuated by the bursts of 
shells and the crash of a falling wall. The muffled 
tread of our troops going forward to stop the Boche 
advance or die seemed an echo of the grim purpose 
of their souls. Through it all came a gleam of 
comedy, typified by the cooks scuttling like scared 
rabbits in and out the ruined houses retrieving 



106 S. S. U. 585 

precious bottles of wine and choice bits of cheese left 
by the civilians in the haste of their departure. 

The sunsets of those long terrible summer days 
were signs to all. Almost always with the close of 
each day seemed to come a pause in hostilities ; as 
though awed by the splendor and majesty of its 
promise neither side dared to mar the vision. After 
the travail of the day, the ruddy glory of the de- 
clining sun bespoke a promise for the future — a 
promise that all would be well. Yet, lulled almost to 
forgetfulness of place in the contemplation of what 
might be and just as the last faint glow was fading 
from the horizon, there would come the shattering 
crash as once more the artillery took up its psean of 
hellish music. 

As a part of the army of occupation in Germany 
one cannot but compare the aspect of devastated 
France and Belgium with the trim and untouched 
form of Germany. It would seem that leaving a 
stricken, ravished land for one that was intact and 
of a clean-cut symmetry would create a pleasing 
impression. On the contrary it was quite depressing 
to contemplate villages and cities, populous and 
thriving as before the war, and then remember 
Louvain and Langemarck ; the former gutted by fire, 
plundered and pillaged, the latter totally razed by 
the surge of four j^ears of conflict over it : to see the 
cathedrals of Aix-la-Chapelle and Cologne and then 
to think of those of Rheims, Soissons and Ypres, 
those despoiled monuments to art and time, the handi- 
work of ancients irreplaceable; and to see the 
chateaux and castles of the Rhine and then remember 



CONTRASTS 107 

the ruins of those one-time similar chateaux, mere 
shells now, that stand as tombstones to commemorate 
the nobility and glory of France and Belgium. 
Today drab-colored stone shells fit only for eyries 
for the denizens of the air — yet one time ancestral 
homes filled with the colorful happenings of all the 
ages and mute witness to their history. 



THE POILU 
By Ted Larrabee 

Today France is rejoicing in the victory that has 
liberated her from the scourge of Hun Kultur. 
Schrecklichkeit is no more. The tricolor waves 
triumphantly and proudly over the fortress of Metz, 
the "impregnable stronghold of the invincible Boche," 
mocking the discomfort of the vanquished foe and 
proclaiming to the world the victory of France and 
the freedom of Alsace-Lorraine. Alsace-Lorraine, 
pilfered and enslaved child, after fifty years of 
misery and suffering under the heavy yoke of Prus- 
sianism, yet always untamed and defiant to the last, 
finds happiness once again in its mother's arms. 
And yet more. Both mother and daughter have 
survived to witness the destruction of the cruel foe 
that tore them asunder. Glory indeed is to France. 
The wonderful, indomitable spirit of France and the 
true stoicism of her soldiers are alone responsible 
for the glory that is hers. And the poilu is the im- 
personification of this same unbreakable spirit. 

The poilu. Our poilu. No more fitting word 
could be manufactured to describe the French sol- 
dier, it being the literal expression of the qualities 
of the man. As to the derivation of the word, and its 
present meaning, we find this very well explained in 
a certain guidebook entitled "Facts about France," 



THE POILU 109 

in which the author writes : "First it should be remem- 
bered that we preserve in French the distinction 
made by the Romans between 'capillos' {cheveux), 
hair growing on the head, and 'pilos' {polls), hair 
growing on the face or body of man, or on animals. 
Therefore 'poilu' means, in orthodox French, 'hairy.' 
In the second place popular belief associates hairy 
arms and chest with (a) vigor; (b) manliness; 
(c) courage. The word existed before the war with 
that meaning, as one of those images of Parisian 
slang. From Paris it had passed to the barracks. 
The war made it popular throughout the army ; it 
pleased the men as humorously, grotesquely' indica- 
tive of their own valor. From the army it spread to 
the papers, polite conversation and literature." 

From the very beginning of France's history the 
poilu has existed, not in name, to be sure, but in 
spirit. He has always been the same, a true soldier 
and a noble son of France. The poilu who has 
fought through four long terrible years of war, and 
poured out his blood like water that "la patrie^' 
might live, is none other in spirit than the brave 
Frenchmen who gave up all that was dear to them to 
sail across the seas to the aid of young America, 
struggling for its very existence against a tyrant 
king. Nor is he different from the brave, hard- 
fighting "grognards" of Napoleon, loyal to their 
leader to the last, and beloved by him. He lives 
today as our poilu — the embodiment of physical 
courage, with a spirit that no Hun frightfulness or 
four years of suffering could break, and a trust in 
God that cannot but be rewarded by Him. And it 



110 S. S. U. 585 

is this poilu, with the help of God in whom he trusts, 
who has saved France. 

Before the war one heard so much of the low 
morality of the French people, and certain poor, 
unknowing creatures rattled on in a senseless strain 
about race suicide. France was signing her own 
death warrant. Such a dissolute life could end only 
in the destruction of the race. Such talk and ideas 
were all too common in the pre-war days. And all 
this from those poor unsophisticated souls who knew 
nothing whatever about France — save that the 
French drank a lot of wine, and that La Vie Pari- 
sienne was a Paris publication. What shame these 
individuals must have felt when they saw this France, 
with all its loose morals, put to a test far more 
severe than any other people, and then come out on 
top ! Race suicide, indeed ! But before many weeks 
the world was given most convincing evidence that 
France was far from speeding toward ruin. 

When the first rumor of war came floating over 
Europe Paris was at the zenith of its gayety. And 
France was happy. It did not come with a shock. 
Rather it was treated lightly, and was given little 
credence by the joy seekers of Paris and the con- 
tented peasants of France. It was merely a false 
alarm, a slight trouble that would soon be settled by 
polished speech over a mahogany table. Nothing to 
be startled about. War in the twentieth century 
was unthinkable. Mere newspaper talk, and the 
fright of a few too timid citizens. No, it was impos- 
sible. And thus the report was passed on and for- 
gotten for the moment. 



THE POILU 111 

It was not until German troops had begun their 
march toward Belgium and declarations of war were 
being turned out like hot cakes that the first black 
clouds of war came rumbling nearer and nearer, 
growing more ominous every hour, the prelude to 
the storm that was soon to burst forth in all its fury 
upon peaceful France and Belgium. Then followed 
in short order the glorious and stubborn resistance 
of the plucky little Belgian Army at Liege, which 
marked the first of a series of events that were to 
plunge all Europe, and later almost the whole world, 
into a death struggle destined to rob France of the 
flower of her youth and England of her noble' sons, 
to leave the fields of Europe devastated and torn, 
cities and towns razed and defiled, and the whole 
country stained red with the blood of the heroes who 
fought the Kaiser's hordes, and dotted thickly with 
the graves of "Tommies" and "poilus" alike. Then 
it was, while the stalwart Belgians were disputing 
the further advance of the imperial troops at Liege, 
that Paris and all France awakened to the real peril, 
looming up blacker and more threatening on the 
horizon. From that moment there was but a single 
thought in the hearts of all Frenchmen — the safety 
and honor of "la patrie." All the true sons of 
France came rallying to her aid from all corners of 
the earth, so that when the heathen tribes came rush- 
ing toward the capital, the heart and soul of France, 
they were surprised and disheartened to find opposing 
them an army of poilus armed with bayonets, and 
with determination writ upon their faces. "On ne 
passe pas," was the cry. The Boche did not enter 



112 S. S. U. 585 

Paris in triumph that evening, as per order. And 
then took place the Battle of the Marne, when thou- 
sands and thousands of Frenchmen fell that their 
beloved France might live. The river flowed red 
with the blood of patriots, noble French blood and 
red, and the graves along the roadside give horrible 
testimony of the heavy toll taken in that great 
battle — a battle of pure sacrifice, a simple pouring 
out of the lifeblood of France. The French Army 
was very rudely equipped to wage war against the 
well-provided Hun, but the soldier, the poilu, was 
"there." Slowly, step by step, gradually increasing 
the speed, the brave poilus pushed back the Boche 
invaders at the point of the bayonet. The simple 
bayonet and the poilu's own body saved France in 
the Battle of the Marne. Of all the instruments of 
death in this war the Boche fears the bayonet the 
most, and when we consider that the Frenchman is 
a master at the art of bayoneting, it is more readily 
comprehended how this almost miraculous feat was 
accomplished. Here, in the first battle of the great 
war in which the poilu played a role, we find the 
expression of that indomitable spirit and unstinting 
courage that have always characterized the fighting 
sons of France. 

And let it be said to the credit of the poilu that 
he has maintained throughout the war this never- 
say-die spirit, in times of adversity as well as in 
times of success. Who are we, who have had a mere 
taste of war, to complain of the hardships and 
dangers of war? If we, at times, have felt discour- 
aged and tired almost of life itself, how much more 



THE POILU 113 

justification has the poilu had to feel that way? We 
who think we know war, what do we know of the suf- 
fering and pain and sorrow he has experienced? We 
have had enough of war to give us an idea of the hell 
it is. We have been at the game scarcely more than 
a twelvemonth, many of us much less long, while he 
has endured for more than four years, when the days 
were darkest, too. How can we appreciate (we can 
only surmise) the mental torture he has suffered all 
these years — living, as it were, under a threat and 
a curse, tempting fate time and again, always on the 
alert for the approach of death in one of the many 
forms that Hun Kultur has devised? Not to mention 
the long dark days when he sat crouched in an abri 
during the cold, dreary winter months, brooding over 
the past and speculating about the future, lamenting 
the fate of his lost comrades and his broken home, 
but never his own lot, and yearning for the end of 
the war. How many hours has he whiled away thus, 
thinking, thinking? Provided he does survive the 
war, what must he face? A future little better than 
the war itself. The odds are even greater. The ter- 
rible war has taken all he possessed to make life 
happy for him — his home and dear ones and his total 
wealth. We cannot know what he has suffered, but 
we can easily understand how he could have suc- 
cumbed to fate. But not so with the poilu, the man 
who never says "die." In truth he has fought other 
battles than that against militarism, and they were 
as hard and exacting as the battles of blood and iron, 
calling for all the courage and stamina that were in 
him. And he won them all ! 



114 S. S. U. 585 

And for all his courage, his strength of will, his 
steadfastness for a noble cause, what is his reward? 
To be sure he has the honor of fighting and offering 
his life for "la France" — the greatest of all rewards. 
Yet what natural reward does he receive? His name 
is not featured in the headlines of the newspapers 
the world over. No one writes eulogies to this man 
when he has made the supreme sacrifice. His breast 
is not decorated with a row of medals, announcing 
the hero, nor does he know aught of elegant, 
"snappy" uniforms and gold braid. His is not the 
career and fortune of the handsome, dashing young 
aviator, acclaimed the "ace" by the masses. He is 
destined for a far different end. The poilu, our 
comrade Jacques, was the first to offer himself to 
"la patrie" — the obscure, "simple soldat," without 
name, wealth or fame ; and he has fought for her 
with his life year in and year out, still the obscure, 
ordinary comrade Jacques, and he dies unwept and 
unsung. He knows not the comforts of the "ace's" 
life — a good bed, fine food and hours of recreation. 
His task is never finished and he makes no distinction 
between "time off" and "time on." His home is a 
filthy cave, stinking with foulness and alive with 
"totoes," where he crouches himself to gain what 
sleep he can after a meal of soup and "singe." His 
is a life of monotony, suffering, filth, and above all, 
of extreme and continual danger. Never is he safe 
from the sniper's bullet or the deadly gas fumes. 
Always he can hear the whiz-bang of shells and the 
crash of bombs. Then comes the moment when he 
dashes forward amidst a rain of steel, when he goes 



THE POILU 115 

"over the top." It is the same story over and over, 
and still he is game and fighting with all the spirit 
that is in him. This is the life of the poilu, that 
of the "ace." Who wins.'' For when all is said and 
done, talk to your heart's content of the wonderful 
feats of aviation, it is the "poilu" and the "Tommy" 
and the "doughboy" who have been the mainstay in 
this war, and to them belongs the greatest glory. 

But after more than three years of what seemed 
an almost fruitless struggle, the poilu was weary, 
well-nigh unto death. Another but our poilu might 
have given up, but not he. And then help came from 
across the seas. Life began anew for him. Fate 
was kind, after all. He could now see his objective 
by the full light of the sun, and he gained hope as 
the doughboys began to arrive and take the places 
they should have occupied long before. He wel- 
comed with open arms the khaki-clad warriors from 
far-off America. He lauded them to the skies and 
was proud to fight beside them against the common 
enemy. The coming of these fellows-in-arms was for 
him the beginning of a new era. Now he could see 
victory in sight, and he gathered strength from the 
knowledge. But it took so long, so long, for the 
"Sammies" to come. Could he hold out until they 
should be able to shoulder their part of the burden.'' 
"Yes," said the poilu, and proved it a little later, 
during the critical period of the spring of 1918, 
when he fought with all his old courage and strength, 
fighting his best when the days were darkest. (And 
those days were dark, too.) There for the hundredth 
time the poilu was put to the severest of tests, and 



116 S. S. U. 585 

for the hundredth time he surmounted an adverse 
fate. It is one thing to fight, bravely and strongly, 
when fortune favors the fighter. It is quite another 
thing to fight with the same spirit when fortune seems 
to favor the adversary. It is in just this respect that 
the poilu, as a soldier, differs from the Boche. The 
Boche is a fine soldier when he is winning. We have 
seen what he is when he is losing. It takes more than 
a purely mechanical soldier to fight with all his might 
when adversity stares him in the face, when fate itself 
seems to be against him, and to "carry on" as our 
poilu did during the dark, critical days of the past 
spring, when the Boche, heading straight for Paris, 
was stopped in his mighty drive in the Second Battle 
of the Marne. Here thousands gave their lives as 
willingly as their brothers had done four years 
before, falling in almost the same spot as the first 
defenders of Paris. And finally, when fortune took 
the side of the Allies, who now became the aggressors, 
the poilu was in the thickest of the fighting to the 
last moment, displaying the same sterling qualities 
that had won him fame at Verdun and the Marne — 
that courage that never fails, and that spirit that 
has never been broken. 

And now that it is all over, and the poilu marches 
triumphantly into Bocheland and sees his former 
oppressors now his vassals, he cannot but rejoice 
and sing praises to the good God who has made it 
all possible. And yet at the same time he looks back, 
and considers the terrible price exacted for all this 
peace and glory, — his own dear France torn and 
bleeding from her many wounds, the shattered homes, 



THE POILU 117 

the millions of youths who made the supreme sac- 
rifice and who are less fortunate than he in not being 
able to enjoy the day of victory — tears well up into 
his eyes, and he shudders as he brushes them away 
with a rough, dirty hand. 

But it is not for the poilu to waste time reminisc- 
ing and lamenting his fate. He has much to do. 
So gritting his teeth, he turns and faces the future, 
like the true soldier he is. The outlook is not pleas- 
ant. No home, no family, no money. Alone he 
enters another battle — the greatest of all battles — 
the battle of life. But he will fight this battle even 
as he has fought the Boche, and with the same spirit. 
And he will win. There can be no other end. The 
poilu and France must needs always win, so long 
as the poilu exists. 

France is free. France is rejoicing in her victory, 
when she renders glory and honor to her heroes, the 
living and the dead. Alsace-Lorraine is returned to 
her own. And the poilu, the obscure, ordinary 
"simple soldat," the plucky, brave. God-fearing 
poilu, has achieved it all. He has removed the "aur" 
from "on les aura," and to him we owe the "on les a." 
"Vive le poilu!" 



"GRAVY" 

By "Jim" Weber 

Probably the dictionary defines the word "gravy" 
as a sauce with a spice, used to add flavor. If the 
dictionary went deeper into the art of modern slang, 
the definition of this word would be a bit different. 
It might use the definition, "Gravy is the art of 
making the most of one's possibilities by luck, hook 
or crook," and is most frequently employed in the 
phrase "riding the gravy." In ray own defense I 
must say that to "ride the gravy" in civilian life is 
not the same thing as "riding the gravy" in army 
life. As a civilian there is a limit ; as a soldier — 
well, all is fair in war. To fully understand the 
meaning of the term, and perhaps to gather a few 
hints, read as much as you are able of my experiences 
in that particular line. 

My gravy career began unintentionally imme- 
diately after I had joined the army. I left New 
Haven for Philadelphia, where I was sworn in, and 
from there I went to Chicago to wait till I was called. 
Somehow or other my name was overlooked, and not 
until the disagreeableness of making the camp was 
finished and I had passed two extra pleasant weeks 
at home was I called. 

My next experience was aboard the San Jacinto. 
The delights and comforts of that trip are explained 



"GRAVY" 119 

elsewhere. I avoided the pleasures of our dining 
quarters and the wonderful food served therein by 
a very simple combination of a small sum of money 
and a large amount of nerve — a combination often 
used in the United States with great success. First, 
I made the acquaintance of a fighting field clerk, 
who had a stateroom. Secondly, I cornered a colored 
waiter who served the officers, and with the use of 
dollars my friend Mr. Darkey could have been seen 
twice daily carrying a tray on which nothing was 
visible but sheets and pillow-slips, but which con- 
tained ample to fulfill the needs of a growing boy. 

We landed at St. Nazaire. Our camp life con- 
sisted of poor food, watching the moon disappear 
and the sun come up, sleeping on the ground and 
taking long hikes in the hottest part of the hottest 
days with every button of our blouses fitting snugly 
in its buttonhole. This life was disagreeable but not 
unbearable. However, the joys of a merely dis- 
agreeable life were not to be ours; we soon learned 
that we were to be chosen to unload five ships that 
had just come to port. The following afternoon I 
developed a pain in my right side, and three days 
later I was recovering from an appendicitis opera- 
tion, perfectly comfortable, a good bed, good food 
and pleasant nurses chirruping round me — a situa- 
tion slightly preferable to the perspiring occupation 
of unloading hay and canned goods. 

My next gravy adventure was a rare one — one 
that formed itself out of peculiar circumstances, and, 
if you will note carefully, lacked not one of life's 
spices. The Lorraine sector was a "secteur tran- 



120 S. S. U. 585 

quil." The town of Badonviller was within a kilo- 
metre of the lines. Until this part was taken over 
by the Americans as an instruction sector, German 
shells had not been fired on the town since 1915. 
Civilians had moved back into those houses that had 
not been destroyed, and were living as comfortably 
as possible in a war area. One family we shall never 
forget; that of Madame Thomas. In France one 
always thinks of Madame as the head of the house. 
Not meaning to slight "papa" — but have you ever 
tried to buy eggs from a private family in France.'' 
If so, who decides whether there are any to be sold, 
and what the price is to be.'' When on duty at 
"Badon" we stayed at the Thomas home, occupying 
one room, in which we ate and slept. Everyone was 
anxious to go to this poste for three reasons — 
Madame was a mother to all of us, she was a good 
cook, and she had a daughter who was good-looking. 
Moreover, the family next door had a daughter who 
was also pretty. We had had a month or more of 
peaceful existence, enjoying our food and playing 
boy and girl. However, this was not to last. One 
fine day — the same day, by the way, that the town 
barbers raised their prices — some tired doughboys 
dragged themselves into the town of Baccarat, some 
twelve kilometres from Badonviller. They had 
missed a meal ; this coupled with the fact that they 
had made a long hike made them feel as though they 
had not eaten for days, and naturally they said so. 
This event was the beginning of the end for peaceful 
Badon. In a few days friend Boche noticed that his 
adversary was firing many bullets on dark nights, 



"GRAVY" 121 

and that on the following mornings there were many 
new holes in the posts supporting the wire entangle- 
ments. Old officers knew a pole from a man, even at 
night ; therefore new troops must be in the opposing 
trenches. By the process of elimination it was 
finally decided that Americans must be on the other 
side, and so they began to prove a great general's 
well-known saying. 

One day regiments were changing places, one was 
going back for a rest and the other was going into 
the lines. The entire population in the vicinity knew 
of this movement, as they did of all American actions, 
almost a week in advance. So did the Germans. Two 
of us made a trip to Baccarat with wounded, dis- 
charged them and started back. We reached a hill 
overlooking Badonviller, from which position we 
saw shells bursting over the town. About twenty 
yards from Madame Thomas' house we stopped the 
car and jumped into a friendly cellar, whence we saw 
that the wall of the room next to the one in which 
we lived had been completely demolished. Then I 
imagined that all sorts of terrible things had hap- 
pened to the two boys who, when I had last seen 
them, were sitting comfortably in our room. I 
imagined them blown to bits, or perhaps down in the 
cave underneath the house they were under the knife 
of the doctor, who was cutting away to his heart's 
content. I was mistaken, happily mistaken. For a 
few minutes we were unable to run over to Madame 
Thomas' either for lack of time or for lack of nerve. 
Finally we made it. In a far, dark comer sat both 
the boys ; in place of a bloodthirsty doctor were two 



122 S. S. U. 585 

very pretty girls, Alixe Thomas and Juliette. The 
girls were shaking with fright and crying over the 
loss of their homes, and my lucky comrades were 
consoling them in a man's way — a strong arm and 
a poor endeavor at words. Juliette was nearer my 
age, so I butted in. Imagine a cave some twenty feet 
underground, shells landing very near, causing the 
whole place to rock back and forth, even extinguish- 
ing some of the candles that were doing their best 
to make the cave cheerful. Then imagine two very 
sweet demoiselles who must be consoled. I call it a 
happy circumstance. 

My last and most fortunate gravy episode oc- 
curred in Belgium. To fully understand how suc- 
cessfully I "rode the gravy" it is necessary to 
mention something of the conditions under which we 
were working. Belgium has many muddy spots, and 
we were in the most muddy part of all. To go over 
certain stretches of not more than five kilometres it 
took the twenty ambulances of our Section twenty 
hours, and the make "Ford" was in their favor. We 
were dirty and exhausted. Our billets were situated 
near a crossroads, not far from a railroad station. 
The day was a beautiful one, and the coming night 
promised to be clear and bright, making it practi- 
cally certain that there would be numerous air raids 
to disturb our sleep and nerves. That afternoon a 
kind and thoughtful shell came my way, a piece from 
which caused a clean, small hole in the fleshy part of 
my arm. No pain, a trip back to the hospital in Dun- 
kirk were the results. To add to this, after spending 
three comfortable weeks in the hospital, with the aid 



"GRAVY" 123 

of less than a hundred cigarettes I managed to get the 
consent of the French doctor to go to Nice for ten 
days, as a convalescent. The most unfortunate 
event of all was that when I returned the war was 
over. 

Is the definition of "gravy" almost clear.'' 



A VISIT TO THE TRENCHES 

By Derek Peters 

On several occasions during our long stay in the 
quiet Lorraine sector last winter we naturally got 
restless, because of our inactivity, and began to wish 
something would happen to break the everlasting 
monotony of our life. 

Being on poste at Migneville, a little village a few 
kilometres behind the lines, one day everything 
seemed especially quiet, so having nothing to do and 
no prospect of any calls, with our usual disregard 
for "rules and regulations," Stevens and I decided 
to visit the trenches. Leaving the village behind we 
strolled along the road over the hill, leading to the 
little clump of woods called the Bois-le-Compte, where 
our advanced poste de secours was stationed. Inside 
we met the Frenchmen in charge of the poste, who 
took us in and wanted to show us round. First of 
all, we were led down a trench leading to the entrance 
of the station, and then, to our astonishment — and 
the poilus' delight — we went downstairs at least 
thirty feet under ground. Here we saw a complete 
hospital with every convenience for the handling of 
the wounded. The poilu proudly showed us how the 
escalator worked (a device that carries the serious 
cases from the ground level down to the operating 
table), then he led us a little farther along the pas- 



A VISIT TO THE TRENCHES 125 

sageway, and we saw the beds arranged in tiers. At 
the end of the row of beds the dressing station was 
installed. Here the wounded men, after receiving 
their first-aid attention, left through another door 
to the trench which took them up to the road, where 
they were loaded into the voiture and taken back to 
the evacuation hospital. 

We left the hospital and made our way up to the 
machine-gun posts. Everything was peaceful ; the 
Frenchman in his dugout, making "briquets," enjoy- 
ing his solitude. When we arrived he willingly took 
us over to the guns and showed us how they worked, 
then led us back to his dugout, brought out his 
"bidon" of Pinard, the poilus' best friend, and started 
to tell us a few stories of his previous battles, until 
one of his companions arrived who was feeling much 
the happier on account of his Pinard, and who agreed 
to take us up to the first line and the observation 
postes. 

With our strong persuasive powers — American 
cigarettes — we started on our tour of the lines. Con- 
trary to all expectation, instead of everything being 
battered down by shell fire everything was clean and 
in good order. We wandered over the muddy duck 
boards along the communication trench, and finally 
arrived at the first line proper. Here the French- 
men welcomed us and asked all kinds of questions con- 
cerning "les Americains." Everyone wished to take 
us in hand, but our "petit caporal" by this time our 
best friend, stood up for his rights and took full 
charge of us. 

First of all he took us along another small trench 



126 S. S. U. 585 

which led to the observation poste, where two poilus 
were stationed. Here the "caporal" illustrated the 
use of the periscope glasses, and told us the neces- 
sity of having an alert guard on duty. With the 
aid of these glasses we had a splendid chance to see 
that section of No Man's Land. At that time it 
was just a long sloping strip of ground, pockmarked 
here and there with shell holes, and crisscrossed, of 
course, by the wire entanglements. 

We returned to the trenches again, and here the 
Frenchman showed us how he lived in his dugout, 
comfortably fitted out with two raised platforms, 
one above the other, with a substantial covering of 
straw — this he called his bed. He showed us also 
his little trench stove. Leading us around through 
another trench he displayed their supply of Pinard, 
without which it is said the Frenchman will not fight ! 

After this little tour we returned to the group of 
poilus whom we had met before, and here we spent 
a very interesting half hour, enlivened by rounds of 
their ever present Pinard, learning the secrets of the 
grenade, the star shell, and many other instruments 
so important in the ti-enches, until finally we decided 
that it was getting late and that we had better leave. 

About sunset we started to wander back to our 
little village. As we walked through the woods 
everything looked so pretty in the light of the setting 
sun. The Angelus was calling to prayer. The thin 
blue line behind us had completed one more day in 
the defense of France and the homeland. 



THE ARK OF THE COVENANT 
By L. D. Lyman 

I 

Being the days and wanderings of the Ark of the 
Covenant as told hy Abimadab the scribe of the 
Mamonites. 

And this is the law of the Ark of the Covenant. 

Where the tribe shall go there shall the Ark of the 
Covenant go, and where it shall be ordained that the 
tribe shall pitch their tents there shall the Ark be 
found, and whenever they shall gird up their loins 
and depart then shall the Ark go with them and on 
its altars thrice each day shall burnt offerings be 
paid between the morning and the evening, for thus 
it is written in the law and the prophets. 

And the tribe shall eat thereof that they may fill 
their bellies and be not ahungered before the Lord 
their God. 

And these were the days and journeys of the Ark 
of the Covenant. 

For it was commanded of the most high that the 
tribe of Eli should gird up their loins and depart into 
a far country, they knew not whither. 

Thus God commanded and they obeyed him. 

And behold the tribe of Eli did journey, together 
with their flocks numbering as the sands of the sea, 
to many lands and by devious ways, even to the Vale 
which is called Meurthe-Moselle, and their flocks with 
them, which be called Toto, which is by interpreta- 



128 S. S. U. 585 

tion Cootj, according to the sinful manner of their 
life. 

For like the lilies of the field they toil not neither 
do they spin, yet Green in all his glory is not arrayed 
without some of these. 

And whenever the tribe of Eli sate them down then 
did Moses and the priests of the Ark sacrifice and of 
the burnt offerings were the children of Eli fed, both 
of the flesh of sheep and of goats and of the wild 
asses slain with the edge of the sword. 

And after many days in the Vale of the Meurthe 
the tribe of Eli did gird up their loins and depart 
into a far country and their flocks went with them; 
and the Ark went sometimes before them and some- 
times behind them and sometimes beside them, and 
its goings out and its comings in were as the stars 
in their number. 

And the priests and the Levite Marcellus did speak 
many holy words and great of it for the Ark and its 
burnt offerings. 

For verily, the Levite Marcellus hath the gift of 
tongues. Great is the sound of his voice above the 
multitude and always doth he call on the name of the 
Lord. Yea, many and great with the name of the 
Lord are the words which the Levite Marcellus doth 
utter. 

And from the Vale of the Meurthe the tribe of Eli 
and their flocks and the flivvers and all that unto 
them pertained journeyed to the city of Charmes, 
where they abode until nine sacrifices were made 
before the Ark. 

And the children of Eli were exceeding wroth with 



THE "ARK" 129 

the priests, yea, with Crane and Harper, because 
of the burnt offerings with which they needs must 
fill their bellies and especially because of the drink 
offerings. 

For the drink offerings were as the venom of the 
adder and the poisoned spittle of the stinging dragon 
on the tongues of them who tasted. 

But the priests would heed them not when they 
complained of it, neither would they do aught but 
mock, for they taste not as with the tongues of men 
but rather as the beasts of the field with whom they 
consort. 

And the tribe of Eli did swear a mighty oath that 
they would cast the priests of the Ark into the waters, 
for they were unclean. 

And they murmured among themselves and would 
not be comforted until the day in the wilderness when 
they cast them out and the tribe of Eli did get them 
new priests, the Rabbi Perkins and he that is as the 
bull of Bashan in his roarings and his stampings, 
he that is called Cunningham by the sons of man. 

And then did the tribe of Eli taste of the burnt 
offerings and were comforted and drink of the drink 
offerings and were not athirst, not even for the choco- 
late of the Rabbi Perkins. 

But the unclean priests dwelt apart from the 
others until they should be cleansed. 

And the priest Harper hath gone into another 
country whence men say — yea, even those who sit in 
high places say — that he shall never return among 
the tribe of Eli, for they love him not. For he took 
with him certain monies which resteth as a sign unto 



130 S. S. U. 585 

those about him, for verily doth the priest Harper 
speak with the tongue of a false judge and the forked 
tongue of the serpent which lieth in the grass. 

And from the city of Charmes did the tribe jour- 
ney in two parts, and one part went one way and 
another went another. 

And the Ark of the Covenant went with the greater 
part. 

And the tribe of Eli journeyed for three days from 
early in the morning until evening, but they wor- 
shiped not three times each day before the Ark. 
Only in the morning a drink offering and in the 
evening a burnt offering and the tribe did murmur 
against the priests and the elders for the hunger that 
was in their bellies. 

And the tribe of Eli journeyed by Troyes and the 
Vale of the Marne through Persan and Beaumont 
to Beauvais where there was a great gathering of the 
multitudes for war; armed men and mighty men of 
valor together with their chariots and horses and 
their men in warlike array, and their musicians with 
sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. For the day 
was great with war and the Hour of Battle was nigh 
when the tribes should rise up and smite the Phil- 
istine hip and thigh with the sword of righteousness. 

And among them were many scribes and learned, 
the Ishmaelite, Cobb, and others of great report, who 
fill the ears of the multitude with their noisings and 
speak not with the tongues of angels but rather as 
Samson slew the Philistines, with the jawbone of the 
ass; for the truth is not in them and their voice is 
as the voice of the wild ass, loud and without meaning. 



THE "ARK" 131 

And from Beauvais the tribe of Eli journeyed to 
the city of Aumale — a half day's journey and the 
Ark went with them. 

And the country round about was filled with war 
and rumors of war, for the might of the Philistine 
was great and his gods powerful. 

And the tribe of Eli did make merry in Aumale 
two days' time. For Aumale is a goodly town and 
the inns thereof give bounteously of their wines and 
strong drinks to the stranger within their gates. 

And the tribe of Eli waxed merry with the wines 
and strong drinks. Nor did they lie down to rest 
before they were filled. 

And on the morning of the third day before it was 
yet light, yea, before the Frankish officer had arisen 
from his sleeping, did the tribe gather themselves and 
await. 

And they were wroth with waiting, for the Frank- 
ish officer who came not. And the tribe of Eli would 
not await in peace; for their heads were great with 
goodly drinkings and many. 

But early in the morning when the light had not 
yet come, the tribe of Eli and their elders and their 
flocks which be called Toto, whose seed had waxed 
great and multiplied, and the Ark of the Covenant 
and the priests of the Ark — yea, the unclean priests 
Crane and Harper, did journey a little way to the 
city of Picquigny which lieth in the Vale of the Somme 
by Amiens, where there is a great Tabernacle and old. 

And there they bode in wait for the war against 
the Philistines. 

And while they bode there the elders were wroth 



132 S. S. U. 585 

with the people, for they did consort with others not 
of their tribe and did mingle with them to the morti- 
fication of the sons of other tribes and did even bring 
them merry with much wine into their tents. And 
the Elder Peters, a man quick to wrath, bade them 
not do this thing, but they would heed him not, for 
their heads were great with wine of the country. 

And behold these strangers within their gates fell 
asleep ere they were done drinking and two of the 
Sons of Eli did carry them by the heels and by the 
head into their tents as the Lord their God com- 
manded them. And another of the tribe did exhort 
with them and teach them even the teachings of 
Moses and the sayings of the prophets, he being filled 
with wine, and many were his words and holy. 

And on the following day the elder who is called 
Peters, which is by interpretation a stone, turned 
away his face from them and would not be moved 
from his wrath but remained for many days a barrier 
in the path of those who made merry with strangers. 

And lo, when the hour of battle was nigh and the 
hosts were gathered together for war, it being about 
the fifteenth day of the fifth month, the tribe of Eli 
and their flocks and the Ark of the Covenant with 
them did arise and go out of the Vale of the Somme 
by Amiens where the Great Tabernacle lieth. 

And they journeyed an half day's journey to the 
city of Esquennoy which lieth by Montdidier between 
the waters of the Somme and the waters of the Oise. 

And there they lay in wait for many days in a 
forest. Yea, for fifteen days of the fifth month. 

And on the last day of waiting they gathered their 



THE "ARK" 133 

tribe together and journeyed to the Vale of the Oise 
by Compiegne, a sightly city and rich. 

But the hand of the Philistine was heavy upon the 
land and its peoples were fled away, for they feared 
for the women and children before the anger of the 
Philistines, for thus do the Philistines make war, 
smiting all before them. Yea, even the babes and 
sucklings with the flocks of sheep and of goats and 
kids carried in baskets were fleeing before the coming 
of the Philistines. 

And the soldiers of the Lord went up to battle 
before Compiegne and the tribe of Eli went with 
them. For the hour was nigh. 

And on the coming of evening of the last day of 
the month the children of Eli journeyed further south 
into the Vale of the Aisne and in the morning the 
hosts went up to battle against the Philistines. 

And the battle endured for many days, yet the 
hosts of the Lord did not falter, smiting the Phil- 
istine by day and by night, fearing not, for the Lord 
was with them. 

And the Sons of Eli labored in the battle that their 
brethren sorely stricken might not die and the Lord 
was with them in their labors. 

And the Ark of the Covenant was also with them 
and they continued to eat of its burnt offerings and 
drink of its drink offerings which were as gall and 
wormwood in their bellies, for the unclean priests 
were still with them; yea, these unclean priests and 
slovenly, and they labored not fittingly, but the 
Levite Marcellus and Beecher did toil also, for they 
are cunning with their hands, and all the Sons of Eli 



134 S. S. U. 585 

did marvel at their toil and have not ceased to marvel 
to this day at the toil of Marcellus and Beecher, for 
it is not their wont, inasmuch as they live as men 
apart and do not partake of the common lot. 

And when the battle had somewhat abated the 
tribe of Eli did journey on to other lands and other 
battles in the Vale of the Aisne and by Soissons and 
on the hills round about. 

And the Ark went always with them. 

And it was commanded that they go into a far 
country, even to the lands of the Belgiumites, which 
lieth between the Great Sea and the lands of the 
Philistines. 

And so they went and the Ark went with them. 

And it was about the end of the ninth month when 
the hosts of the Lord joined together under his ser- 
vant the King of the Belgiumites and went out to do 
battle against the Philistines, to drive them out from 
the lands of the Belgiumites which they had taken 
and utterly destroyed. 

And the Sons of Eli went with them. 

And the Ark went with them also. 

And on the twenty-eighth day of the ninth month 
sorrow came among the Sons of Eli and fastened it- 
self upon them in the Wilderness of Sin which lieth 
between Dixmude and Ypres. 

For the Ark was not with them nor the priests of 
the Ark nor the chariot which drew it. For there 
was no way and the chariots of the hosts lay before 
them and they could not pass. 

And the heavens opened and the rains fell both by 
day and by night and the Ark of the Covenant re- 



THE "ARK" 135 

mained in the mud which filleth and compasseth 
round about the Wilderness of Sin. 

But the children of Eli murmured among them- 
selves saying, Where is the Ark and the unclean 
priests and the burnt offerings thereof? Our bellies 
cry out for food and are not filled. 

And they sate them down and wept for the flesh- 
pots of Egypt, and especially Stevens, crying out 
with a loud voice lamentations in the Wilderness, but 
it came not, neither did the unclean priests, for they 
were asleep. 

And some of the tribe, together with the captain of 
the tribe, a good and mighty man of valor, did go in 
search of the Ark and its burnt offerings and Stevens 
went with them and Bowerman of whom it is cried 
when he cometh. Who hath loosed the bonds of the 
Wild Ass.? 

And they brought back portions of the burnt 
offerings and the children of Eli ate and were satis- 
fied ; yea, Stevens, even he was also satisfied. 

And he that riseth early in the morning and 
laboreth in the high places of the earth, the trump- 
eter of the host, he that is called Campbell, he also 
was satisfied. 

And the hosts went out to battle and smote the 
Philistines until they were utterly routed and fled 
away before them. 

And the Belgiumites and their brethren followed 
by Dixmude near the hill that is called Paschendaele 
by the sons of man. 

And there was no food for the armies and they 
were sore ahungered and athirst so that they drank 



136 S. S. U. 585 

the foul pools that lay in the Wilderness but had no 
food. 

And birds of the air came among them with manna 
which they dropped. Even as Elijah in the Wilder- 
ness were they fed by the ravens. Even as the chil- 
dren of Israel were they fed by manna dropped from 
the skies. 

And the Philistines fled before them and the hosts 
pursued, and some they slaughtered and some they 
took to be their servants and the land was freed from 
the Philistines and there was great rejoicing through- 
out the world. 

And the Sons of Eli and all that unto them is, 
journeyed to Brussels, a great city and beautiful, 
and the Ark went with them. But the unclean priests 
were cast out and other priests ministered before the 
Ark, the Rabbi Perkins and Cunningham and many 
another. 

And the tribe of Eli journeyed for many days and 
the Ark always went with them. 

And the Sons of Eli went into the lands of the 
Philistines. 

And the Ark went with them, for it is so written 
that wherever the Sons of Eli shall go there shall the 
Ark of the Covenant be found, and where they shall 
pitch their tents there shall the Ark be found, and 
where they shall take up their abode there shall the 
Ark of the Covenant abide. 

For this was the law. 

And so it was. 



LES LOUPS DU BOIS LE PRETRE 

By J. Wilfrid Beecher 

Three infantry regiments were garrisoned at Toul 
at the beginning of the war. During, and after the 
mobilization of the entire Front, they formed the 
mobile defense of Toul, occupying the Bois le Pretre, 
where unaided they repelled the Boche attacks on 
this wood so fiercely that early in the war "Gerry" 
came to know it as the "Bois des Veuves," because of 
the number of widows mourning for German husbands 
killed in the vain attempt to dislodge these stubborn 
defenders. 

June 7, 1915, the three regiments, 167th, 168th 
and 169th, were relieved from the Bois le Pretre, and 
on the fifteenth of June the 128th Division was 
formed. This Division was composed of four regi- 
ments, the 167th, 168th and 169th, and the 100th 
Regiment of infantry, which was detached from the 
12th Corps, a squadron of chasseurs, two companies 
of engineers and a park company, two battalions of 
territorials, the 252d Regiment of artillery (pieces 
of 75 millimetres short) and further supported, 
according to the sector, by artillery from the Corps 
d'Armee. 

The Division was henceforth known as Les Loups 
du Bois le Pretre, a name first given by the Germans 
to the defenders of the wood. 



138 S. S. U. 585 

July 2 the 138th took the sector at Viermi le 
Chateau, near Varennes, where a firm defensive was 
maintained, and even the Hun attacks of the four- 
teenth of July and the eleventh of August were re- 
pulsed with heavy enemy losses. A short repos, and 
the Division went back into the lines at the extreme 
right of the French Champagne offensive, where on 
the twenty-fifth of September, 1915, it attacked the 
Boche forces of the Argonne, which were coming to 
the aid of their hard-pushed comrades in the Cham- 
pagne. The German reinforcements were stopped at 
this battle, but the valiant Loups lost one half their 
effectives in two hours. That same day Les Loups 
were relieved and sent en repos in Lorraine, their 
native heath, where they organized the sector around 
Reillon, in front of St. Clement. 

Before they left for Verdun, in June, 1916, the 
100th Regiment was taken back to the 12th Corps. 
At Verdun the 128th took Fleury, Chapelle, St. Fine 
and Fort de Souville and held all the ground taken 
in this most critical epoch of the German offensive 
against Verdun. The Boche offensive of the eleventh 
of July for Fort de Souville was broken, as were the 
continuous Hun counterstrokes, while the 128th 
fought from one water-filled shell hole to another in 
this hell on earth, never yielding one inch of ground. 

Again a repos for a few days only, and then the 
128th was ordered to the Bois d'Ailly on the right 
bank of the Meuse, and near St. Mihiel. This sector 
was very quiet and well established, but owing to the 
nature of the ground the opposing front lines were 
far apart. Two horses had been running wild over 



LES LOUPS 139 

this No Man's Land, since the front lines had become 
permanent, and had eluded both French and Ger- 
mans, who were eager to win the respective rewards 
offered for their capture. Finally two of Les Loups 
were successful, and each received four hundred 
francs and ten days' "perm." 

Toward the middle of October the 128th moved 
to Cote du Poivre, Verdun, where it supported the 
attacking forces, and assisted in entertaining some 
15,000 prisoners. Immediately after the attack the 
128th Division took over the entire sector, organized 
it, and finally held it over a month in mud waist deep, 
attacked continually by squalls of snow and rain and 
hordes of Boches. Relief came and the 128th went 
to a quiet sector on the heights of the Meuse, north- 
east of Eparges. Here they remained the rest of the 
winter until April. The eighteenth of April Les 
Loups stormed and took Auberives, Monts du Cham- 
pagne, and held it until relieved the last of June for 
the usual short repos, after which they took a quiet 
sector at Souian, in the Champagne. 

The last of July they were at Verdun for the third 
time, and in the Bois des Caurieres. The eighth of 
August they went over the top and advanced vmder 
a dense and murderous Hun barrage. They held 
against the counterattacks until relieved. It was 
here that General de Riberpray was killed by a 
bursting shell in the front-line trenches. The name 
of General de Riberpray causes the face of any 
Frenchman, be he poilu or officer, to soften when he 
hears it, for the general had endeared himself to the 
hearts of the men. Permissionnaires laden with 



140 S. S. U. 585 

musettes were always given a lift to the railroad if 
he happened to pass in his car. When he visited the 
trenches, if it happened to be near time for "la 
soupe" the general often bore a kettle himself, and 
many a poilu was served by his general, disguised as 
a private. The morning he was killed he was per- 
sonally ascertaining the losses in the previous attack 
before carrying out the order to attack again. He 
was succeeded by the present General Segonne. 

In October, after a repos, the 128th Division went 
back to Verdun for the fourth and last time, and 
took up a position in front of Cote du Talon, where 
they were successful in occupying a part of the Bois 
des Caures after a bloody struggle. 

In December orders came for repos, and this time 
Les Loups went again to Lorraine and took a quiet 
sector at Baccarat. Here we joined them, replacing 
an English section, and soon we had made many 
friends among the Frenchmen. In March the 42d 
Division of Americans came to Baccarat to receive 
its first front-line training from Les Loups, who were 
full of praise for "les petits Americains." 

In April the 128th moved to St. Clement, but ugly 
news came daily from the Somme, and finally, the 
last of April, the Division entrained for Amiens, 
where they stayed en reserve with the Australians 
until the last of May, when they were called to 
stop the Boche hordes at Villers-Cotterets. Again 
and again the Boche tried to penetrate the forest, 
but each time the valiant Loups rolled back the sur- 
prised Hun, who was compelled to respect his adver- 
sary. An order from the German General Kundt 



LES LOUPS 141 

found on a prisoner ran in part as follows, "We have 
found before us an infantry hard to reduce, and 
adversaries quite worthy of respect." A prisoner 
from the Imperial Guards recognized Les Loups, and 
was heard to say, "No wonder we couldn't get 
through ; it was the 'Wolves' who stopped us again." 
The Division held, by very hard fighting and with 
surprisingly few losses, for over fifty days. It took 
part in the big French attack of July 18, and ad- 
vanced several kilometres, until relieved to go en repos 
north of Compiegne. 

The last of July the Division took an established 
sector in front of Vic-sur-Aisne with orders to smash 
the Boche lines and drive the enemy out of this hilly 
and strongly fortified country. Town after town was 
taken, and when the Division arrived at its objective 
it was relieved, to spend a few days around Villers- 
Cotterets, near where only a couple of months before 
it had stopped picked Boche troops in their rush for 
Paris. 

September found them in front of Soissons, and 
this time Chemin des Dames was their objective. 
Some of the most desperate fighting of the war took 
place, as the Loups advanced foot by foot, pushing 
back the best fighters of the German Army, who were 
backed by the strong fortifications of the Hindenburg 
line, repelling continuous counterstrokes night and 
day. After the Loups took Ferme Perriens the 
Prussian Guards attacked six times during one night, 
but were not successful in permanently dislodging the 
French. 

The 128th suffered considerable losses at Soissons, 



142 S. S. U. 585 

but were relieved from there the middle of September 
to aid the Belgians in the new drive in Flanders. 
This was another hell on earth; the low country did 
not permit trenches, and even the shell holes would 
quickly fill with water, leaving no protection for the 
men. The 128th supported the Belgians to Wif- 
wege, where it went into the lines and fought its way 
to the Roulers-Thourout road beyond Staden. There 
were not so many losses as usual, for nearly all the 
Hun light artillery had been taken in the first rush, 
and the pill boxes were the chief obstacles. After 
reaching their objective the Loups were relieved and 
put on reserve for a couple of days, after which they 
went back into the lines and were the first Allied 
troops in four years to enter Oudenarde. 

Next the armistice was signed, and after fifty- 
three months of hard fighting the Division was given 
a well-earned rest as part of the army of occupation, 
in Rhenish Prussia, around Aix-la-Chapelle and 
Jiilich, and there we left them in March, 1919. 

Les Loups du Bois le Pretre won the respect of 
the Hun early in the war. They were always found 
in the hardest fighting, were four times at Verdun 
during the most critical epoch of the Hun drive for 
this important fortress, and were among the first to 
penetrate the famous Hindenburg line. They were 
always ready to sacrifice themselves, as when they 
were cut to pieces in the Champagne and at Verdun. 
Their constant hammering and dogged tenacity wore 
down the morale of the Hun at Chemin des Dames 
and made it easier for the next French division to go 
through. Their unfailing courage and readiness to 



LES LOUPS 143 

sacrifice won them many citations, both as units and 
as individuals. 

The Division as we knew it was composed of the 
167th, 168th and 169th Infantry, the 252d Artil- 
lery (pieces of 75 millimetres), one battalion of 107th 
Regiment heavy artillery (pieces of 155 millimetres), 
one squadron of 11th Chasseurs, two companies of 
10th Regiment engineers together with a park com- 
pany, and the 54th and 67th Battalions of territo- 
rials. Further reinforcements of artillery were sup- 
plied according to the need of the sector. 



OUR BILLETS 

By "Art" Lewis 

Their number is legion, and as to shape, appear- 
ance and design they exist in as great variety as the 
products of Mr. Heinz, czar of pickledom. For me, 
however, they fall naturally into two classes — billets 
above ground and those below, or more properly, 
those that give protection from the elements alone, 
and those designed to shelter the billetees from gas, 
obus and "a' things that go bump i' the nicht." 
Being a conscript in the "Battle of the Book" I con- 
scientiously object to adding mendacity to the crime 
here perpetrated. Therefore I refuse to discuss the 
general subject of billets, and will confine myself to 
such as sheltered the tribe of Eli in its wanderings. 

As to the way in which our billets were awarded 
to us, the ordinary proceeding was simplicity itself. 
The convoi would be halted just outside the town 
that was to be our destination, while our French 
self-styled section commander bustled to the bureau 
du major de cantonnement in search of accommoda- 
tions, while we cooled our heels by the roadside. 
Jamon might reasonably be expected to return before 
midnight; candor forces me to admit that he seldom 
took more than two hours, but his appearance of 
being a busy man was never missing. However much 
we maligned him, we were compelled to admit his 



OUR BILLETS 145 

Thespian ability, for he played his part well. When 
the courier of the G. B. D. had been awarded a con- 
venient abri, and the Divisionnaire's horse had found 
logement, then and only then were the ambulanciers 
allowed to seek a place to lay their weary bodies. 
This system has privileged us to sleep in some of the 
most venerable relics of France, granges that shel- 
tered forage for Napoleon's troopers, and wine cellars 
which held the vintage of ages long past. Such 
splendid barns as we had at St. Clement ! In all fair- 
ness it must be admitted that they occupied a stra- 
tegic position with regard to the cafe, but they had 
no other good points. The roofs leaked, they were 
crawling with cooties, and the addition of several 
horses added the subtle perfume which is always 
associated with those white-clad warriors of Man- 
hattan who so consistently follow the ponies with a 
broad, long-handled scoop. 

Owing to our aversion to sleeping on vermin- 
infested straw, we generally occupied more room than 
the same number of poilus would. The fortunate 
owned cots, the hoi polloi couched on brancards. 
Everywhere was strewn equipment, clothing, ciga- 
rette butts and waste paper. When we struck an 
oft-bombed town it was quite surprising how much 
room was to be found above ground and how little 
below. The chateau of Villers-Cotterets gave us a 
splendid apartment, which we occupied by day, 
deserting it for the lower regions with the first hum- 
ming of the Gothas. Then came Boursonne with its 
hayloft, which we occupied gleefully until a "toot 
sweeter" formed the unpleasant habit of dropping 



146 S. S. U. 585 

a few in every night. Thirty seconds after the first 
shell fell, the solitary cave was crowded with doctors, 
conducteurs, the G. B. D. personnel and plenty of 
small black beetles that could bite through a pair of 
rubber boots. So it went. 

Despite the few vagaries listed above, France 
treated us well on the question of billets, but 
Belgium — ouch! Wifwege, Langemarck, Cinq Che- 
mins — what splendid quarters we had in those towns ! 
Here a Boche pill box, and there a shell hole, and in 
the next place a tent sheltered us. Where Lange- 
marck was, there is now only a pile of bricks. Our 
billets were in the cellar of the city hall, the rubble 
of what was once that edifice standing up at least 
three feet higher than the surrounding debris. As 
the Section advanced close upon Jerry's heels the 
quarters became better, for, scientific always, our 
friend the enemy refrained from burning such towns 
as we entered — he was in too much of a hurry. In 
Hunland the housing problem was simplicity itself. 
First a hotel, then a schoolhouse with central heating 
and lighting arrangements. The Cristallerie in all 
its glory could not compare with our luxurious loge- 
ment in the ecole at Aachen. 

The trailer has been deserted for a model interior 
kitchen ; iron bedsteads have replaced the blood- 
covered brancards. Verily apartments de luxe. You 
can bet that forsan et haec olim jneminisse iuvabit. 



THESE DAYS 
By "Tony" Lundgren 

Clouds are heavy in the sky ; 
Leaves are dusky in the haze ; 
Fields a dullish green, 

With bits of gold 

Of marigold 
Or deep, deep red, — 

A crimson tint on shadows fed, — 
Bursting out between 
The blades of grass and r3^e. 

It makes us wonder if the sigh 
Slipping past our lonesome lips 
Is real? Or does the gaze, 
That wistful, wistful gaze. 
That feeds itself on seas and ships. 
And sails that glimmer with the sheen 
Of silk, — and distant days 
So full of dreams, — have sense? 

And is there recompense 
For a longing gaze. 
Or a soulful sigh? 

Or must we dream, — and die? 

Villers-Cotterets, 
June 9, 1919. 



DAWN 

By "Tony" Lundgren 

Shadows are moving 
Hither and thither ; 
Daylight is creeping 
Slowly upon us. 

Why do we shiver? 

Why are our faces 
Sober and ashen, 
Tense with emotion? 

Why are we tongue-tied? 

Why are we rigid, 

Set in the harness. 
Waiting and waiting? 

Minutes are hours, 

Hours are minutes. 

Overhead, — whistling, 

Sighing and sobbing. 

Crashing and crashing, — 

Powder and metal 

Cruelly human ! 
I 

Thank God ! It's over ! 



FERNANDE 

By George Butler 

The following is an account of the writer's experience 
on June 3^ 1918. The Paris paper, Le Petit Parisien, 
contained in its June 8 edition a picture of Fernande, 
and told of her having been found by the French soldiers 
and carried to the hospital in an American ambulance. 
Her address at the hospital was also given, and the 
writer sent her a letter which was answered promptly by 
the child's nurse. Fernande soon recovered from her 
wound, spent the latter part of the summer at the sea- 
shore in care of some Sisters, and later spent several 
months at their school in Paris. The writer called to 
see her there in February, 1919, but the child had just 
gone to live with an aunt who is to educate her. Fer- 
nande's father, a stone mason, is again living at Fav- 
erolles (Aisne), but it was learned from some of the 
Wolves that her mother was killed in her home and was 
buried in the little military cemetery near the Oigny 
Quarry. 

On the morning of June 3, 1918, the sun was beam- 
ing radiantly over the Forest of Villers-Cotterets, but 
among its shadows a bitter struggle was being waged. 
At break of day the Germans had launched a furious 
attack, hoping to gain a foothold in the Forest — the 
last natural barrier between their lines and Paris. 
After a tremendous artillery preparation the gray- 



150 S. S. U. 585 

clad hordes had hurled themselves against the thin 
blue line of Wolves, exhausted but ready to fight to 
the last to save their beloved capital. The Germans 
had managed to gain a brief possession of the town 
of Faverolles, but the little tanks arriving in support 
of the infantry had driven the enemy in terror from 
the village, and the Wolves remained masters of the 
Forest. 

It was a busy morning for most of us and the sun 
was almost directly overhead when "Hap" Houlihan 
and I left the 168th Battalion poste at Oigny with 
the last load of wounded. On the top stretcher was a 
Boche, who was to be replaced by one of the wounded 
Frenchmen waiting at "The Quarry" — a huge cavern 
carved in the hillside, and serving as a regimental 
dressing station. About the entrance of the cave 
was seated a group of brancardiers noisily enjoy- 
ing their "soupe" after their strenuous morning's 
work. Just inside, several poilus, using their packs 
as pillows, were snatching a few minutes' sleep. 
Beyond was a row of stretchers, each supporting a 
wounded soldier. The horizon-blue uniforms were 
tarnished with dust ; many were tattered and stained 
with blood. The silence and damp chill in the cavern 
formed a marked contrast with the turmoil and 
brightness of the morning. 

From the darkness, a strange sound reached our 
ears — a voice clearly distinguishable from those of 
the poilus. But we were imagining things, for 
surely there could be no child in that cavern so close 
to the Boches ! Even when we saw a little figure in 
white, indistinct in the darkness, we scarcely be- 



FERNANDE 151 

lieved. Our eyes and ears had not been deceiving us, 
however, for there in the midst of a group of admir- 
ing brancardiers sat a beautiful child ! A fair round 
face, smiling but pinched by pain and fatigue, peeked 
from a mass of golden curls. What was the mission 
of the little girl in the white dress, here among the 
bearded poilus? 

The question was soon answered, for a bandage 
extending below the child's dress told that she had 
been wounded. A sudden and intense feeling of 
hatred filled my entire being. To think that even 
the Boches had dared harm such a beautiful, radiant 
little creature! As we joined the group, the "mede- 
cin-chef," who had just finished bandaging the thigh, 
was jesting with the "petite hlessee." Not a com- 
plaint or murmur escaped the lips of the courageous 
child, whose smile was ennobled by the sujffering which 
it tried in vain to conceal. 

As the old corporal filled in the hospital tag, the 
brancardiers gladly related to us the story of the 
child. She had been found that morning in the little 
village of Faverolles, after the French had driven out 
the Boches. During the bombardment which pre- 
ceded the early morning attack, a German shell had 
made a direct hit upon the child's home, and a piece 
of eclat had pierced her thigh. When she saw that 
the poilus were in the village, she had attracted them 
by her cries, and had been carried to Oigny by the 
brancardiers who were then attentively caring for 
her. There was pathos but no wonder in the fact 
that neither the child nor the soldiers knew what had 
become of her parents. It seemed as though each 



152 S. S. U. 585 

of these old territorials — perhaps mindful of his own 
little ones — was trying as best he could to take the 
place of the missing parents. 

The tag was soon ready and Fernande Noel of 
Faverolles, aged seven years and wounded in the 
right thigh, was ready to be evacuated. All wished 
her "bonne chance" and "bon voyage," and a group 
of brancardiers escorted her down the path to the 
car, each of the men kissing the little girl fondly on 
each cheek before leaving her. My first thought 
upon seeing Fernande in the cave had been that the 
angels must have sent her there with a message of 
love and hope to the warworn poilus. True, I had 
been partly mistaken, for it was the Boches who had 
sent her, but there was no doubt that the sympa- 
thetic attachment and pure affection which her 
presence had aroused in the hearts of these men 
would serve as an inspiration and help in the dark 
days that were to follow. I climbed on to the front 
seat beside "Hap" and the child was gently placed 
upon my lap. Little did we need the bidding to take 
good care of the child, for never had we been en- 
trusted with so precious a charge, and no effort 
would be spared to assure her safety and comfort. 

Slowly we climbed the winding, rutty road leading 
up from the quarry. What a relief to be rid of the 
German and his groans ! What a contrast between 
him and this courageous little French girl who 
uttered no complaints though her face showed clearly 
that every jolt of the ambulance shot a dart of pain 
through her frail body. 

But safety was the first consideration and as we 



FERNANDE 153 

crossed the open level space leading to Dampleux, 
"Hap" gave the car more gas. The next few 
moments were filled with the most intense and com- 
plex feelings. An ardent admiration for the brave 
and beautiful little creature in my arms was joined 
with a burning hatred for the brutes who had harmed 
her. A prayer for her safety was mingled with a 
thought of vengeance should any further injury 
befall her. With my helmet I shielded the beautiful 
blue eyes and golden hair from the bright sunlight 
and the strong, cool breeze — and who knew what else 
might fall? As we approached the village of Dam- 
pleux which had been battered to pieces about our 
heads that morning, the thought came constantly to 
me, "If anything should happen to Fernande !" We 
passed along the road skirting the woods, whose 
border was lined with "75's," and these little guns 
were barking forth a continuous stream of defiance 
and death. The crisp, crackling reports were almost 
deafening, and little wonder that Fernande was 
frightened ! I did my best to divert the child's mind 
from her pain and danger, however, and assured her 
that they were French guns that were doing the firing 
and that they were helping the brave poilus drive the 
wicked Boches from her village. It was wonderful 
to see the child's courage return with the realization 
that those two great French contributions to the war, 
the poilu and the "75," were still fighting face to face 
with the enemy. 

Dampleux passed, and once well into the woods 
the noise and danger were greatly diminished. Soon 
we reached the divisional "ambulance" at Villers- 



154 S. S. U. 585 

Cotterets, where we were ordered to transport our 
wounded to Betz. How I dreaded the long, jolting 
ride over the rough cobblestone roads ! Of course 
we had a puncture, and while I was giving "Hap" a 
hand, Fernande was left alone on the front seat. 
When we were again ready to "roll" I noticed the 
child munching away on a stick of sand chocolate. 
This, she told me, had been given her by one of the 
poilus and she was enjoying it — for had she not 
missed her breakfast? This small piece of choco- 
late — or sand, as the fellows disparagingly called 
it — served as a diversion throughout several kilo- 
metres of the ride, but occasionally an unusual jolt 
would send a look of pain into the child's face — and 
then she would smile ! The most courageous, noble 
and captivating smile I have ever seen. 

The road was thronged with men and conveys of 
guns, caissons and supply wagons on their way to 
the Front, and the sight of the little girl being carried 
by Americans brought forth a great variety of ex- 
pressions as we passed. Most of the remarks were 
in the typical light-hearted, jesting vein of the poilu, 
but when we spoke of our petite blessee, the child 
became at once the object of the greatest admiration 
and I felt very proud of my temporary guardianship. 

As we rode along, I tried to learn from Fernande 
something about her parents and the events of the 
early morning, but the child's mind, like those large 
blue eyes, seemed very weary. She did tell me that 
she was having her first automobile ride and that she 
was enjoying it (which seemed very difficult for me 
to believe), and I thought how thrilling the expe- 



FERNANDE 155 

rience would have been for this little peasant girl 
under more favorable conditions. 

After telling Fernande for the dozenth time that 
we were nearly at our destination, and with my arms 
tired out from supporting her, we reached the hospi- 
tal where I was to lose my brave little charge. As I 
turned her over to the doctor and was about to leave, 
Fernande burst into tears — the first time she had 
cried since I first saw her in the cavern. It seemed 
so hard to leave her at the busy hospital with all 
those soldiers, but when the doctor promised that 
every possible care would be given her and that she 
would soon be sent to Paris for the best of treatment, 
we bade the child "au revoir, bonne chance," and 
"bonne sante." As "Hap" and I rode back to the 
Section, I realized that the morning had brought me 
experiences and feelings I should never forget, and 
that in little Fernande I had come to know the 
Unconquerable Spirit of France. 



A YANK'S PILGRIMAGE TO DOMREMY, 
BIRTHPLACE OF JEANNE D'ARC* 

By Arthur Mac C. Shepard 

The road over which our Section drove, one rainy 
day in October, 1917, in a long convoy of Fiat ambu- 
lances following our blue-coated poilu division en 
repos, led through the beautiful Lorraine country- 
side, a region teeming with undying memories and 
traditions of France's peerless heroine and warrior- 
saint, Jeanne d'Arc. We passed several statues and 
monuments to the Maid by the roadside and not a 
few signs and inscriptions made reference to her 
glorious history. Late in the afternoon we passed 
through Vaucouleurs, the town whither Jeanne came 
to demand of its governor, the Sieur de Baudricourt, 
men-at-arms to conduct her to the French king at 
Chinon castle. Here, as I saw several weeks later, 
still exist the subterranean chapel where Jeanne 
heard mass before setting out on her fateful journey 
and the Porte de France through which she and her 
followers rode. When, towards nightfall, we reached 
our destination and place of repos, the tiny village 
of Amanty, high in the hills above the Meuse Valley, 
I learned that we were within easy walking distance 

* All book and publication rights for this chapter, except in 
the book of the Yale Section, reserved by Arthur Mac C. 
Shepard. 



PILGRIMAGE TO DOMREMY 157 

of the Maid's birthplace and the scene of her miracu- 
lous visions — Domremy. 

The following morning, a Sunday, I was pos- 
sessed by the desire to visit Domremy that very day. 
I inquired of several villagers how far off the place 
was and whether I could hire a guide to take a party 
there. I was informed that Domremy by the shortest 
route was from twelve to fourteen kilometres distant 
and that it would be easy to procure a guide. Hav- 
ing secured Lieutenant Abbot's leave and persuaded 
and cajoled as many as I could to go with me, I 
engaged a seventeen-year-old boy to conduct us to 
the birthplace of Jeanne d'Arc. He was to meet us 
at one o'clock. 

The weather had been threatening all the morning 
and toward noon it rained violently. This was far 
from encouraging and several who had agreed to go 
with me now backed out. When the guide came for 
us after dinner only two, besides myself, were game 
or rash enough to set out. At the last moment, how- 
ever, the weather showing signs of clearing, four 
others decided to join us. We started out seven in 
number, Bill Flint, Borden, "Deak" Lyman, "Howy" 
Campbell, Perkins, Crane and myself. Following 
our little guide, whose name I learned was Aarm- 
gaard Noisette, a cultivateur proprietaire by occu- 
pation, we struck over the country by a rough wagon 
road from the Department of Meuse into Vosges, 
where we soon hit the excellent departmental route 
leading from Gondrecourt to Maxey. 

The scenery along this road is among the finest I 
have seen in France. Ahead of us rose the Vosges 



158 S. S. U. 585 

foothills, or petits Vosges, as our guide called them, 
which are, in fact, good-sized, thickly wooded mounts. 
Nearer at hand, on either side the road, vista after 
vista of hilly woodland interspersed by broad reaches 
of meadow unfolded before us as we advanced. I 
remember one magnificent view across a broad, gently 
dipping valley whose opposite rise was crowned by 
a small compact grove of pines standing out distinct 
and beautiful like a temple against the horizon. The 
country is a rich grazing and farming land, wheat 
and sugar beets being the principal crops. We 
passed several large flocks of sheep tended by shep- 
herds and dogs, which made beautiful pictures as 
they grazed in the meadows near the dense oak 
foliage. 

We walked rapidly over the region, uphill and 
downhill, admiring the scenery, talking, joking and 
skylarking incessantly. Practicing our crude French 
on the guide, we plied him with questions, trying his 
patience, I fear, but never for an instant ruffling his 
inborn French politeness. We continually asked how 
much farther it was to Domremy, declaring it was 
twenty rather than twelve kilometres. We inquired 
if there were fish in the streams. 

"Mais oui. Monsieur!" 

"Quelle sorte?" 

"Beaucoup de truite." 

Was there gibier in the woods .f* 

"Oui ! Oui !" 

"De quelle espece.'"' 

"Oh," (with a shrug) "des lievres, des sangliers." 

When "Deak" Lyman was told that sanglier meant 



PILGRIMAGE TO DOMREMY 159 

wild boar he feigned the liveliest fright. "Oh! J'ai 
peur ! Sauvons-nous," then started off at breakneck 
speed and began to climb the nearest telephone pole. 
These Mark Twain tactics, however, didn't work at 
all. Aarmgaard, unlike the famous Italian guide, 
had a keen sense of humor and let out peal after peal 
of gleeful laughter. When we further informed him 
that "Deak" was the grmid moquer, the grand men- 
teur de la section, his mirth bubbled forth joyously 
anew. 

The weather cleared soon after we left Amanty and 
by the time we were half way to Domremy, the sky 
was blue from horizon to horizon and a warm brilliant 
sunshine poured down. We blessed our nerve in mak- 
ing the trip under such uncertain weather conditions. 

Walking along at a tremendous rate we passed 
through several villages, among them Vauthon-bas 
and Vauthon-haut, the one situated at the bottom, 
the other at the top of a hill; and at last, towards 
3.30, entered Domremy, which we found overflowing 
with French soldiers en repos. They had evidently 
seen few, if any, American soldiers before, for they 
gathered in groups or lined the walks staring at us 
with great curiosity. 

We of course made straight for the house of 
Jeanne d'Arc, which we found at the end of the vil- 
lage street, next the church — the Maid's own, by the 
way — and within a grove inclosed by an iron railing. 

The house is a fair-sized, two-story stone building 
with a broad, low-pitched, single-slant roof — just 
such a building as one would impute to the village 
innkeeper, Jacques d'Arc, in the fifteenth century. 



160 S. S. U. 585 

The walls, like those of nearly all French village 
houses, are gray and hoary with age ; but though the 
building has undergone repairs and reconstructions, 
it is undoubtedly in its foundations and walls the self- 
same house in which Jeanne d'Arc was born, grew to 
maidenhood and pondered on the resplendent visions 
which she saw revealed in the neighboring oak woods 
and meadows while tending her sheep. 

Over the entrance of the house in a little covered 
recess or niche is an antique statue of the Maid, clad 
in full armor and in a devout kneeling posture. 
Beneath it are the fleur-de-lys of royal France, and 
the arms of Jeanne d'Arc with the inscription vive le 
roy louis. This monument, bearing the date of 1481, 
was emplaced in the reign of Louis XI. 

What my feelings were in entering this house with 
its wondrous historic associations can easier be 
imagined than told. The dominating notes were 
reverence and awe in the presence of the early sur- 
roundings of "the most noble life that was ever born 
into the world save only One." I was frightened at 
the thought that I was treading the ground, touching 
the stones that had known the feet and the hands of 
the Maid; that I was standing in the room where she 
had first seen the light of the world. It seemed too 
wonderful — too tremendous to be true. 

The whole building is a museum filled with objects 
relating to the life of Jeanne d'Arc — a few ancient 
relics, such as the wooden post on which the Maid 
hung her lantern — but principally pictures, statues, 
medals, prints and books, both mediagval and modern, 
representing her character and career. 



PILGRIMAGE TO DOMREMY 161 

In the anteroom on the ground floor where one 
registers on entering — whose ceiling beams, by the 
bye, are scarred and chipped by the knives of the 
Prussian souvenir hunters of 1870 — are two fine 
statues of Jeanne d'Arc, one representing the Maid 
in a graceful sitting posture, barefooted, clad in a 
simple peasant frock, head high, features distinct, 
beautifully chiseled, with a pensive look in her eyes 
as she gazes far off in the distance ; the other shows 
her seminude, kneeling with hands folded and listen- 
ing with submissive awe to her Heavenly Voices. 

In one of the upper rooms is a complete collection 
of biographies and works in all languages relating 
to the Maid, among which to my satisfaction, I found 
Mark Twain's "Personal Recollections of Joan of 
Arc." 

Having spent an intensely interesting hour looking 
over the collections of the museum, and having 
bought a medaillon of Jeanne d'Arc attached to a 
double cross of Lorraine for a souvenir, I crossed 
over to the parish church, situated scarcely fifty 
yards from the Maid's house. Though a typical 
village church outside, its interior is one of the most 
beautiful, not to say interesting, of the sort that I 
have seen in France. On one of the pillars, just 
inside the portal, is an inscription to the effect that 
in this church Jeanne was baptized, confirmed and 
made her first communion. Everywhere are statues, 
carvings and pictures representing the deeds and 
person of the Maid. As "Deak" Lyman remarked, 
the little children of Domremy must confuse in their 
minds the Virgin with Jeanne d'Arc and Jeanne d'Arc 



162 S. S. U. 585 

with the Virgin, The stained glass windows, which 
are rare and beautiful in their coloring, depict suc- 
cessively the great scenes of the Maid's life, laying 
stress on the miraculous episodes. The whole interior 
impressed me as rich and tasteful in its art, devoid 
of the gaudy ornamentation often seen in French 
village churches. 

Besides the house of Jeanne d'Arc and her parish 
church, there is a fine church about two kilometres 
from Domremy, known as the Basilique and erected 
in the Maid's honor about 1890. We could see its 
tall spire from the village and wanted very much to 
visit it, but as the hour was late and we were due 
back at quarters by 8 p.m. we decided not to make 
the attempt. 

We left Domremy and started on our way back at 
five o'clock. Walking as fast as our legs could carry 
us, we had a regular heel-and-toe race as far as 
Vauthon-haut, "Deak," Borden, Flint and myself 
reaching there first, and the others, including little 
Aarmgaard, lagging far behind on the road. We 
waited until they caught up with us, then all sat 
down in the village buvette to a meal of vin rouge, 
war bread, Swiss cheese and confiture. These appar- 
ently were the best the village could produce, but 
after our hard walk they were as good as a royal 
feast. 

As royalty in past ages is said to have dined, we 
too now dined, in public. The whole of Vauthon- 
haut assembled at the word of our coming, crowded 
into the buvette, or stood gazing at us through the 
windows and the door. Though feeling a trifle like 



PILGRIMAGE TO DOMREMY 163 

caged animals on exhibition, nothing could dampen 
our high spirits and fun. We drank, sang and talked, 
or rather yelled, in a hodgepodge of English and 
French. At the request of a young peasant boy, 
who proudly exhibited his repertoire of five or six 
English words, we sang "The Star-Spangled Ban- 
ner," which most of us, it must be confessed, knew 
but poorly and whose wild, somewhat outlandish air 
set the dogs to barking and several young children 
crying. Finally, just before leaving, we sang "The 
Marseillaise." We had learned the French words 
and the air in Allentown and had practiced th,em con- 
siderably since landing. We sang well, I believe, 
certainly with great spirit, for at the close, after 
thundering out the refrain, 

Qu'un sang impur 
Ahreuve nos sillons, 

we fairly brought down the house. Such a hearty, 
sincere applause none of us probably had ever re- 
ceived in public. The villagers clapped their hands, 
stamped their feet, shouted and crowded around us 
with their congratulations. An old man, a white- 
haired veteran of 1870, grasped my hand and held 
it as in a grip of iron. He and others begged us to 
return to them, blessed us again and again, and sped 
us away with cries of "bon voyage" "bonne chance" 
and "vive les Americains" 

After a more leisurely though a fairly fast walk 
over the remainder of the road, we reached Amanty 
by 7.30 and found the rest of the Section gathered 
round a bi-azier fire in a room beneath the sleeping 



164 S. S. U. 585 

loft. We bade good-night to Aarmgaard, not for- 
getting to hand him a "souvenir" with which he de- 
clared himself bien content. 

Having warmed my hands a few minutes over the 
fire, I climbed the ladder into the hay, lighted a 
lantern, sat down on my blankets and busied myself 
for an hour entering the events of the day in my 
diary. 



A BIT OF FRENCH SLANG 

By Carlton Borden 

"Y a-t-il du rab de bidoche, men vieux?" inquires 
a short, stocky poilu. He merely wants to know if 
there is any meat left after everyone has been served 
once, but the average American reader of French is 
somewhat puzzled by the words he uses. Yet a 
knowledge of some of the common terms of war slang 
is very desirable and even necessary if one is to read 
intelligently such books as Barbusse's "Le Feu" or 
Paul Lintier's "Ma Piece," an inspiring autobio- 
graphical account of the author's part and expe- 
riences in the war, written in very simple and direct 
yet charming style. Both these books are realistic, 
but one feels the inspiration, the idealism and the 
high moral plane of the latter work, the author of 
which depicts what he saw and felt in his short career 
from the beginning of the war until he was wounded. 
One is much impressed by the underlying note of the 
ardent patriotism of one who, while loving life with 
all the zeal of the youth of twenty-one who has every- 
thing before him, is ready to die if his France, which 
he loves more than his own life, may be saved. Noth- 
ing can be more in contrast than "Le Feu," describ- 
ing solely, as it does, everything dreary connected 
with the life of the French infantryman. A great 



166 S. S. U. 585 

deal of it is true, and men did live the sort of life 
described, but its effect upon the men themselves was 
not what Barbusse would have one believe. No 
country would ever be saved by a huge army of men 
who believed at heart the thoughts expressed in "Le 
Feu," and acted accordingly. As some French 
critic, who himself saw long service in the trenches, 
points out, "he certainly did not leave undescribed 
any hardship, misery or toil." In describing those 
things, and their effect upon the minds and hearts 
and ideas of his own little squad of men whom he 
picked out to suit his purpose, from the millions in 
the French Army, a barkeeper, a farm servant, a 
porter, a peddler and a newsboy, he leaves out a side 
of war that is just as true and real as its horrors. 
All of us who have been with the poilu have seen men 
who approached Barbusse's types, but how few com- 
pared with the great numbers of witty, cheerful, will- 
ing, patient soldiers to whom such a description of his 
character is one of the greatest insults one can give 
his patriotism and valor. As the critic points out, 
this book has been received in America very enthu- 
siastically as the real story of the poilu's existence 
and character, and has been declared as showing the 
new soul of France. Very naturally he concludes his 
article with the statement that if this is the new soul 
of France, then the old one is good enough for him. 
The subject of this article is not a comparison of 
the merits of these two books which I have happened 
to read. I couldn't help, however, expressing my own 
opinion of them out of fairness to the men with whom 
we associated for fifteen months, and whose courage 



FRENCH SLANG 167 

we learned to admire, whose patience and persistency 
in the face of adversity has evoked the praise even of 
the Germans. In a diary of a German officer the 
following was written, speaking of the Battle of the 
Marne : "Our people hold the heights, but the French 
are demons ; they charge under shot and shell ; they 
get killed blithely. . . ." 

To come back to the subject then, "bidoche" is 
the generally accepted slang term for meat. "Bar- 
baque" is sometimes heard, and I have read some- 
where that the latter has replaced the former in popu- 
larity, but this was not true among the men of our 
Division, and "bidoche" was always the current word. 
There is a shade of difference in the meaning of the 
two. The ending "oche" is a depreciative one, and so 
"bidoche" (probably from bidet, an old nag) means 
a poor quality of meat. "Dure" (hard, tough) and 
"caoutchouc" (rubber) are sometimes used, and are 
self-explanatory. "Singe" (monkey meat) is the 
corresponding French term for the American "corned 
willy." The poilu calls his bread "bricheton," and 
inasmuch as the detail sent to the kitchen for the 
food returns very often with the bread strung on a 
wire like beads on a string, this string of "boules de 
pain" is known as a "chapelet." His potatoes are 
"patates" and his beans "fayots." The action of 
eating is expressed in several ways, the most common 
of which are "boulotter," "becqueter" and "bouffer." 
There exists a very curious expression, "becqueter 
les clarinettes," which means to eat nothing at all. 
"Pinard," the most important word in the French 
language, to the poilu, is his wine. So important is 



168 S. S. U. 585 

it that such expressive sayings as these have come 
forth : "pas de pinard, pas de poilus," "pas de pinard, 
pas de guerre," "y a pus de pinard, y a pus de petits 
bon-hommes," which may be translated, "no wine, 
no poilus," "no wine, no war," "no longer any wine, 
then no longer any good fellows." The part the 
Pinard plays in a poilu's life cannot be overestimated. 
Nobody who has never seen a little poilu bound for 
the "Cope" (co-operative store) with half a dozen 
"bidons" (canteens) strapped around him, or who 
has never heard the earnest discussion about how 
many "quarts" (cups) each one is entitled to on a 
holiday, can appreciate the importance of this phase 
of the poilu's life. The writer has many a time con- 
signed every drop of Pinard to the uttermost circle 
of Dante's Inferno, when he was mess-sergeant and 
had to stand in line for two long hours, in zero 
weather, in order to draw the twenty litres to which 
our small personnel of Frenchmen were entitled every 
other day. Such a subject as "Pinard" is well worth 
the descriptive genius of my friend Bowerman. Some 
trench poet rightly called it the "vrai sang de la 
terre" (true blood of the earth). In the background, 
not entirely hidden by the gigantic proportions of 
Pinard stands "gnole," a small portion of which is 
issued to the soldiers in the field each morning to 
serve the same purpose as the rum issue in the British 
Army. It is a kind of eau-de-vie, and is eagerly called 
for by the soldiers. Sometimes even a Frenchman 
drinks too much Pinard and gets "vaseux" (muddy), 
which indicates that his faculties are a bit confused. 
"Se cuiter" (to get cooked) and "s'allumer" (to get 



FRENCH SLANG 169 

lit) are expressions often used. There is a rather 
descriptive expression for what is known in America 
as the "dark brown taste of the morning after" ; one 
has a "gueule de bois" (a wooden mouth) or famil- 
iarly a "g. d. b." The Groupe de Brancardiers Divi- 
sionnaires (group of divisional stretcher-bearers) is 
known by its abbreviation of G. B. D., and you can 
safely leave it to a Frenchman with his quick wit to 
get off a good one by mixing up the abbreviations 
when he wants to "rub it into" the stretcher-bearers. 
Once in a while it becomes necessary for a poilu to 
mix water with his Pinard in order to make it last a 
bit longer. This common article is known as "la 
flotte." When one smokes, one may have a "seche" 
(cigarette) or a "boufarde" (pipe) filled with 
"trefle" or "perlot" (tobacco). Cigars are rarely 
seen on the Front, and that is probably why there 
seems to be no popular word for them. 

For his different articles of clothing he has several 
slang words that seem to be popular. "Godasses" 
is the ordinary term for shoes, but "godiaux," 
"ribouis" and "croquenots" are used. His shirt he 
calls a "liquette," while "falzar" and "grimpant" 
indicate his trousers. If he happens to wear glasses 
he has "carreaux" (windowpanes) and his helmet 
is a "blockaus." He designates his knapsack as an 
"as de carreau" (ace of spades) or "Azor." His 
equipment, which he calls his "fourbi" or "barda," 
comes in for a share of attention, and "flingue" or 
"clarinette" is his gun, "Rosalie" his bayonet and 
"tringle" his belt. Not a part of his equipment, but 
always with him, is his pocketbook in which he carries 



170 S. S. U. 585 

the pictures of his dear ones, about which he is 
always eager to talk, and which he invariably shows 
one. This precious wallet goes under the name of 
"morling." Besides these pictures it may contain 
some money, not much, for no man can save much 
on five cents a day. Money goes by such expressions 
as "pese," "poignon," "galette," "ble," and when one 
is without it one has "nip de braise," one is "dans 
la puree," or "fauche" (completely broke), literally 
"mown down." On the contrary one may be "aux 
as" ("flush"), "as" indicating here a franc piece. 

The non-coms in the French Army come in as 
usual for their share of attention, as they do in ours, 
and the adjutant, who is above our top-sergeant and 
yet not quite a second lieutenant, is called the "chien 
quartier," a name due to the fact that an unmarried 
adjutant who lives in the barracks is always howling 
for some detail when the men are engaged in some 
pastime. The corporal is known as a "cabot," which 
happens to be a common name for dog. Probably the 
explanation is that a corporal leads a dog's life. 
The doctor is a "toubib," while the first-class private 
rejoices in the title of "premier canard" ("canard" 
meaning duck). 

It seems to be the custom of the average French 
driver to get even with a horse by calling it a "vache" 
(cow) or a "cochon" (hog). Any other animal than 
the commonly accepted name for the animal will do. 
We have the story, probably true, of the man who, 
disgusted with the antics of his mule, burst out into 
this animal monstrosity, "Je n'ai jamais vu un cheval 
si cochon que cette vache !" Not very expressive or 



FRENCH SLANG 171 

humorous to the average American, but to the 
Frenchman it was a very satisfactory way of getting 
even with his mule. 

We find several terms applied to the man whose 
friends for various reasons wish to underestimate his 
intelligence or common sense. The English expres- 
sions "crazy," "nutty," etc., have as equivalents, 
more or less exact, "fourneau," "dingo," "marteau," 
"ballot," "maboul," etc., ad infinitum. The ambu- 
lance service paper suggested that it would be de- 
lightful, once we got home, to be able to open the 
window and without fear of a brickbat, yell "Ta 
gueule, fourneau!" (Shut your mouth, you fool!) at 
the uncomprehending ragman below. On the other 
hand a "good fellow" is "un bon type." "Type" by 
itself is generally used for person, but with the under- 
lying meaning of a peculiar fellow. "C'est un type" 
is not complimentary. "Vous etes un as" was for- 
merly a great compliment, "as" indicating, among 
other things, an "ace" in aviation ; but, as is common 
in many cases, the expression has come to be used 
in an ironical sense and is not especially compli- 
mentary. A time-honored play on words when "as" 
was an honor rests on the words "as" and "asticot" 
(a little worm, a mite). "Vous etes un as," some 
kind friend would say, and then as one was beginning 
to beam with pleasure and trying to think of some- 
thing equally as pleasant and nice to say to reward 
him for his kindness, he would add "ticot." A man 
who is always springing some new joke is a "farceur" 
and deals in "blagues" (nonsense, banter). A mean 
chap is a "chameau" (camel). A man's companions 



172 S. S. U. 585 

are "copains," while his particularly close friends 
are "potes" or "poteaux." Among one's comrades 
one is known as "mon vieux" (old chap) and the 
classic way of addressing one's friends is "Dis done, 
mon vieux" (I say, old chap). No American section 
is completely organized without having the two 
friends "Dis Done" and "Mon Vieux," just as there 
is scarcely a section without a pet called "Toto" or 
"Pinard." 

The infantryman's life is inseparably connected 
with the trenches and dugouts ; the latter are called 
"cagnas," "casbas" (little sheds) or "guitounes." 
From the fact that the soldier lives a great deal of 
his time in holes, we have the word "troufion" for 
him, coming from the word "trou" (hole). "Cam- 
buse" (house), "plumard," "pajot" (bed) and 
"lourde" (door), the common words, are seldom used 
until the wonderful night comes when the battalion 
is relieved. Then he can use this part of his vocabu- 
lary without insulting his own feelings. The rest of 
the time he is where the machine gun, "moulin a 
cafe" (coffee mill) or "machine a coudre" (sewing 
machine) clatters away, and where the "marmites" 
(shells) drop uncomfortably near. Some of them 
are "maous" (huge). Naturally enough a chance 
for a play on the two meanings of "marmite" (shell 
and pot) is eagerly seized by the Frenchman, and we 
have this expression, "II est tombe une marmite dans 
le marmite." A "marmitage formidable" is a 
"frightful shelling." This condition of affairs is also 
expressed by the words "^a tape." Then the poilu 
is liable to be "amoche" (wounded) or even "zi- 



FRENCH SLANG 173 

gouille" (killed). He may be working, to do which is 
"boulonner," "en mettre," and be interrupted by a 
hostile raid. Then he is compelled to "ficher le camp" 
or "mettre les Cannes," which may be translated by 
the English slang "beat it." A curious expression, 
"22," is sometimes used for the same action, having 
its origin probably in the slang of the thieves, since 
"le flic" and "le cogne" (gendarme) are invariably 
associated with it. "^a va," "9a boulotte," "9a biche," 
give one to understand that things are going on very 
satisfactorily. Occasionally, "9a cloche," the oppo- 
site of "9a va." In any company of men there are 
always some lazy ones. These are known as "cos- 
sards" and are said to have "la flemme." "En avoir 
marre" is "to have enough of it," and to be "fourbu" 
is to be exhausted. The sergeant always has a 
"filon" ("soft snap") in the opinion of the men. 

All is not work and trouble in the soldier's life, as 
Barbusse would have one believe. I have seen many 
a merry party of poilus enjoying themselves in the 
cafes, and remember especially being a spectator at 
an impromptu program of singing, orchestral music 
and piano selections at a little, unpretentious cafe 
in Baccarat. It was at a time when things were 
going badly, and it was a wonderful revivifier of one's 
spirits to see and hear these poilus. A race that has 
that spirit can't be beaten, and the "on ne passe pas" 
and "on les aura" ("they shall not pass" and "we'll 
get them!") were just as indicative of the will and 
determination to conquer as they ever were. When 
anything pleases a Frenchman he is generally apt 
to break out into the expression, "Mais, c'est 



174 S. S. U. 585 

epatant !" (My, it's wonderful !) The words "bath," 
"chic" and "pepere" express the idea in varying 
degree of something rather nice. When anything 
amusing happens, it is "rigolo," "roulant" or even 
"crevant," the latter resembling, in the meaning of 
the word, the English expression, "bursting one's 
sides." "Sans blague, mon vieux.'"' is often heard, 
signifying that the speaker wishes to know whether 
to take the other seriously. "Y a pas d'erreur," is 
quite often the reply of the former, this expression 
affirming that it is absolutely "straight," that there 
isn't the slightest doubt about the statement. Among 
the most dangerous class of "blagueurs" are the 
originators of pleasant rumors, such as being relieved 
very soon in a bad sector, or, in our own case, of a 
swift return home. Dante has no particular circle 
or subcircle for them in his Inferno, but if he had 
gone through this war he would have had a special 
punishment reserved for this class of misguided 
humorists. The very common expression "T'en fais 
pas" (don't make a fuss about it, don't get excited) 
must not be omitted, nor the expression "le cafard" 
(the "blues"). "Chose" and "machin" are common 
words used to signify some very indefinite person, 
place or thing, about which the speaker has a very 
hazy idea. Our English "what-do-you-call-it" corre- 
sponds, more or less. There are several words that 
have come into the current poilu language with the 
advent of the African troops, the Moroccans and 
Algerians, who have written as fine a page in the 
history of the war for France as the Canadians and 
Australians have for England. From these people 



FRENCH SLANG 175 

we have "macache" (no), "besef" (much) and 
"nouba" (feast). 

This is no place to go into a discussion of the 
origin of the words, even if their origin could be 
established. In general, however, it seems to be 
rather sure that the source of most of the words is 
Parisian slang, as it was spoken before the war. This 
is no more than natural, for Paris is the predomi- 
nating force in France in all lines of activity, in a 
way such as no one city in the United States exer- 
cises its influence over the whole country. The sol- 
diers of other parts of the country naturally added 
woi'ds and expressions more or less local, some of 
which became general. It would be hard to find a 
slang in which a more vivid and vivacious imagination 
has been employed than in the "argot" of the French, 
and the present war has shown that their reputation 
for ready wit and ingenuity of expression is founded 
upon substantial fact. It is bound to affect the 
literature, for the man who has the imagination 
necessary for a book which will live can't help having 
his mind appealed to by a mass of new, picturesque 
and well-known words. Little by little the orthog- 
raphy of these new words will take on an authorita- 
tive form, and the language will be so much the richer 
for the words born of the new and infinitely varied 
experiences the poilus of France have passed through 
on their way to victory. 



A PERMISSION 
By KiRBY Green 

Only those who have been on a permission can 
realize what joy and expectation it brings to the 
lucky individuals. Permissions do not come often, 
and in a few cases do not come at all. Speaking 
individually, it made me as excited as the first vaca- 
tion at school, but I was not so sure what I was 
going to do or what would happen to me. But I did 
know that I was going away from the Front and was 
going to have a great time. 

The first thing a permissionnaire does is to borrow 
from everyone in the Section, as money is the most 
important part of a successful leave. Then he packs 
his musette with articles he never uses, and says good- 
bye amid a fusillade like this, "Don't forget my 
cigs !" "Remember those pictures !" "Bring back my 
shoes," etc. — to which he always answers yes, but 
with little chance of complying with the requests. 

Now on to the station. And there all the poilus 
are smilingly talking about what they expect to do. 
Everydne is laughing and joking, while many are 
"plein de pinard," which livens up the situation con- 
siderably more. You have your ticket stamped by 
the chef de la gare, and if you have enough cigarettes 
perhaps he will condescend to put you in a second- 
class coach. Finally the train comes groaning and 



A PERMISSION 177 

wheezing laboriously into the station, and you wonder 
how such a small engine can pull so long a string of 
cars. Whenever I see one of those engines it reminds 
me of Ring Lardner's saying, "If they ever lost the 
key to the engine it would never run." Everyone 
makes a rush, and finally, when you are seated, if 
you are lucky enough to find a seat, you try talking 
to your neighbors with your hands and feet. Your 
French companions listen to your struggles with 
patience. Gradually sleep conquers excitement, and 
you find a poilu snoring loudly on each of your 
shoulders. But at each station, or rather stop — and 
there are many on a permissionnaire train — all heads 
are crowded to the window. After which follows a 
long discussion as to how the name of the station 
should be pronounced. So sleep is an unknown 
quantity. 

After hours of suppressed excitement and much 
planning, when you feel that it would be impossible to 
wait much longer, you arrive. Ah, Paris ! No won- 
der people call it the flower of France. Have you 
ever seen the flowers there.'' Look out for the thorns ! 
There's a noisy bustling and shouting that reminds 
you of New York. You could imagine yourself back 
home only for the funny kind of jabbering that goes 
on about you, and the different uniforms. As you 
walk down the platform you are all eyes, and others' 
eyes are not lacking. In passing you hear, "Ah, 
I'Americain, le brave soldat," and sometimes, "Ah, 
cher ami !" An M. P. soon takes all romance out of 
life, yelling in your ear, "Come on to the A. P. M. 
and sign up !" After that it's one big party, and 



178 S. S. U. 585 

you have to be a great mathematician to make your 
money last to the end. 

The sad day comes only too soon, and although 
you are glad to get back to see the boys again the 
thought of going back to the old dirty life of the 
Front is one to be dreaded. You say good-bye to 
the gay life and all the friends you have made, and 
wonder if you'll ever see them again. But you must 
keep a smiling face and carry on. 

You take the train out of the city with many others 
who are going back to the Front. After reminis- 
cences with the poilus, who are always ready to tell 
you all, with childlike simplicity, you sit back and 
dream over your good times while the wheels beat a 
steady time towards the turmoil. When you de- 
scend at a station, civilians are scarce, and the sta- 
tion is half in ruins from air raids. You report and 
find out where your Division is and jump on a 
ravitaillement train. All is over, you will soon be 
back again. The land becomes more devastated ; long 
lines of camions are making their way towards the 
lines. It grows darker; no lights; you wonder if the 
planes will be over. Upon glancing out of the win- 
dow you find it is raining, and you sigh with relief, 
settling yourself to wait for the end of the journey. 
Presently the train gives a few abrupt jerks and 
comes to a stop. Everyone gets out, with their can- 
teens and musettes bumping you. An officer gives 
you the name of a town where the Section is located, 
and you start out down the pitch black road towards 
the flashes in the distance. It rains harder, with a 
chill wind. You pull your coat close about your 



A PERMISSION 179 

neck and plod on in the mud. Something looms up 
dark and dangerous in the road; you spring aside 
as a camion goes by, splashing mud all over you. 
Then on again in the darkness, the guns growing 
louder and louder, with an occasional sharper explo- 
sion from the bigger guns. Now you can see the 
star shells going up in the distance, and occasionally 
a splash of flame from an "arrive." A poilu comes 
splashing along — "Bon soir, camarade ! — Mauvais 
temps." "Oui," you reply, it being obvious, and 
pass on. You are getting closer to your home, the 
permission is a thing of the past, nothing left but 
memories and an empty pocket. After all, it was 
life once more; you had one short glimpse, then the 
blinds were closed. Ugh ! this rain — z-s-s-st — boom ! 
Yes, indeed — the permission is over ! 



THE ALLIES ENTER AIX 

By "Howie" Campbell 

One of the most interesting and inspiring scenes 
that I have witnessed during my career as a soldier 
took place on Saturday, December 7, 1918, a beau- 
tiful midwinter day, a day in every way suitable for 
the great occasion, namely, the entrance of the Allied 
troops into Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), Germany. 
Fully an hour before the great procession was to 
pass everything was in a state of tumult and uproar. 
Hundreds of civilians, young and old, were flitting 
about in search of advantageous spots from which 
they could see the parade. Officers of the different 
Allied armies, among whom were many generals, and 
many troops were passing to and fro. 

At ten o'clock sharp the flags of all the French 
divisions, ours included, which had been engaged in 
the last great offensive in Flanders, were assembled 
together in a small courtyard in the rear of the great 
Cathedral of Charlemagne. A few minutes later 
came the dear old Stars and Stripes, and immediately 
the French band played "The Star-Spangled Ban- 
ner," at which everyone present saluted until the 
last bar. No sooner had the music stopped than 
General Degoutte, Commander-in-Chief of the French 
Army Corps engaged in Flanders, put in an appear- 



THE ALLIES ENTER AIX 181 

ance. He was clothed in a brown uniform, the coat 
of which was covered with medals that glistened in 
the bright sunlight. He spoke a few words of greet- 
ing and gave a brief history of the struggles of 
France from the period of the Napoleonic wars down 
to the present day, touching here and there on the 
First and Second Battles of the Marne, and describing 
how victory came when defeat was staring France in 
the face. At the close of the address the band played 
"The Marseillaise," after which the colors were taken 
to their respective places in the procession. I then 
found a spot just opposite the reviewing stand from 
which I could get a splendid view of the parade. 

I could not help admiring the great figures of 
General Degoutte and General Coppiens (commander 
of the Belgian division in Flanders), seated on their 
horses, and also the two long ranks of staff officers of 
all grades, mounted directly behind the generals and 
all in dress uniform. As I glanced about the now 
crowded sidewalks my attention was called to the 
various expressions printed upon this sea of faces. 
The greater number were cold, with a slight tinge 
of hatred which they could not conceal. A few were 
more or less uneasy, while many were bright and 
cheerful, probably happy because the presence of the 
Allied troops meant the end of a long, bitter struggle, 
and perhaps less suffering for them. There was 
scarcely any disturbance of any sort; one who was 
unaware of what was really going to happen would 
have thought that a funeral procession was about to 
pass. No flags floated from the windows, nor any 
manner of decoration; it was exactly as the con- 



182 S. S. U. 585 

querors might expect upon their triumphal march 
into the land of the enemy. 

Soon the parade appeared, headed by two Ameri- 
can generals and one French general, followed closely 
by the French military band. Directly behind came 
the French cavalrymen, mounted on beautiful young, 
spirited horses, each man carrying upright, in his 
right hand, a long lance with a small triangular flag 
fluttering from the point. As I looked with admira- 
tion upon this great body of horsemen, which spread 
from one curb of the broad avenue to the other, and 
as far back as the eye could see, it recalled to my 
mind the Crusaders in Scott's "Talisman," men who 
stood for that which was pure and noble, and these, 
now before me, were their sons who had fought nearly 
five years for justice, liberty and freedom. 

Next in line came the infantrymen, with the heavy 
packs upon their backs. Although tired and worn 
from a long march — for the}^ had already made many 
kilometres that morning — there was a happy and 
good-natured smile upon their faces, a trait very 
characteristic of the poilu, in times either of hard- 
ship or of pleasure. As I looked over these weather- 
beaten faces, grizzled and bearded and far from 
young, I thought for a moment of what these poor 
old men had endured, of the privations they had 
undergone, of the large families awaiting them at 
home, of the brothers and comrades they had lost in 
the awful carnage, all for France — and now France 
was marching, a victor, into the territory of the foe ! 

My attention was drawn from the poilus by a burst 
of applause from the spectators, and when I looked 



THE ALLIES ENTER AIX 183 

for the cause, I saw the Stars and Stripes approach- 
ing. Immediately civilian hats were doffed, and those 
that were not lifted were thrown into the street and 
trampled upon. Many spectators could not check 
their bursts of enthusiasm, but began to wave their 
handkerchiefs and shout at the top of their voices, 
which to me seemed rather strange. There were eight 
groups of flags, with two flags to each group, one 
regimental, and one Stars and Stripes, with guard 
of honor. As our boys passed, their bayonets glis- 
tening in the sunlight, my blood just tingled with 
pride and joy for the manner in which they marched 
and carried themselves. Their neatness and manly 
appearance was equal to that of any trained and 
veteran troops. They were a credit to the great 
country for which they served. 

Next came many machine guns, mounted upon 
small, two-wheeled, horse-drawn cars, and finally, 
bringing up the rear, more squadrons of French 
infantry. 

Such was the procession, inspiring as a spectacle, 
but even more significant in its symbolic meaning. 
Martial though it was, it nevertheless brought the 
blessed assurance of peace, and a hint that perhaps 
after all the old world had not such a far way to 
travel 

" 'Til the war-drum throbs no longer, and the battle 
fiag is furled" — 

forever. 



CHARMES (LORRAINE) TO AUMALE 
(PICARDY) BY TRAIN 

By John Wasilik 

We had just returned from our first swim of the 
year, in the Moselle River at Charmes. And when 
the Section "fell in" for roll call, our Lieutenant gave 
us a lecture on the saving of "essence." Essence, 
essence — save essence ! — had been dinned in our ears 
for the last six months. Furthermore, he said that, 
due to the scarcity of the precious liquid, some cars 
would have to go by train on this coming trip. 

Towards mess-time I had the good news broken 
to me — I was to go by train, chaperoning car 
141194, my own. Googins, Green, Wasem and Ser- 
geant Hubbard made up the rest of the party. We 
took three days' rations of hardtack, singe, bully 
beef, sardines, bread and jam — nothing to drink. 
Led by Lieutenant Abbot and Weber we rolled 
through the fifteen kilometres of dust to the station 
whence we were to entrain for the North. After 
filling our cars with gas and parking them in a con- 
venient place in the freight yard we took things easy 
on the grassy railroad embankment. Someone sug- 
gested eating a bite, and since no one objected we 
started off with hardtack, singe and jam. Then our 
Lieutenant suggested that, two at a time, we go over 
to the buffet and sample the beer. Green and Wasem 



CHARMES TO AUMALE 185 

tried it and reported it terrible. However, discour- 
aging as this verdict was, Googins and I had to 
quench our thirst. We came to the same conclusion 
as the others — it didn't compare with the suds in 
Charmes. 

It was now growing dark. The Lieutenant went 
to look for available room on one of the trains. 
After about an hour of vain effort he returned. 
Several trains had already pulled out of the station, 
filled with the equipment and men of our Division. 
But still no room for four small Fords. Once more 
the Lieutenant went scouting around. We went to 
bed in our ambulances, but I couldn't get to sleep at 
all. At about ten o'clock unlucky Wasem was 
aroused from his slumbers and told to get his flivver 
on a flat-car. A French flat-car is about the size of 
a U. S. handcar and you can barely get two Fords 
on it. Wasem ran the flivver at right angles to the 
car, getting the front end on while the rear rested 
on the platform. Said flat-car contained a Pinard 
wagon, so there wasn't much room left. In order 
to make room for the rear end of the Ford the posi- 
tion of the wagon had to be changed, and the pole 
taken off. After a few more such maneuvres about 
fifteen poilus picked up the rear end of the ambu- 
lance and slid it in place on the car. The four wheels 
were then securely tied to the bumpers, and in a few 
minutes the train pulled out. No more room could 
be found on the train, so Wasem was compelled to 
travel alone. 

At about 4.30 a.m. the rest of us were aroused from 
our slumbers and told to get our three flivvers on a 



186 S. S. U. 585 

train. We were able to get two flivvers on a car, 
with the front ends together and the rear ends hang- 
ing over the bumpers. The remaining ambulance 
was stuck in between a few wagons, after no little 
difficulty. 

Our train soon pulled out. The Lieutenant stayed 
behind, intending to reach the Section before they 
began the day's drive. All that day and night we 
rode at about thirty kilometres an hour. During 
the day, whenever our train stopped for a few 
minutes we would all make one mad dash for a cafe. 
In Ramicourt we succeeded in getting a dozen fried 
eggs. We passed through Luneville, Nancy, Toul, 
Neufchateau and Bar-sur-Aube. Sleeping in the 
ambulances with the train in motion reminded one 
of the good old ship, the "St. Jack." How those 
flivvers did rock and squeak ! We were all worrying 
as to where we were going. We knew that we were 
bound northward, and that's all. Some of the poilus 
would try to enlighten us upon this subject. They 
knew about as much as we did. One would tell us 
that we were bound for the Somme, another Belgium, 
and so on. 

The following day we were still en route. We 
passed through some very picturesque country, where 
cattle could be seen grazing in the wayside pastures. 
It was the pleasant land of Normandy. On the way 
we passed many troop trains, mostly French and 
English, as well as hospital trains filled with wounded 
from the Battle of the Somme. We also caught sight 
of some American troop trains. 

Our train pulled into a town called Fouilly about 



CHARMES TO AUMALE 187 

5 p.m. of May 7. Here we were switched off on a 
siding where the train was to be unloaded. Our 
flivvers were taken off the cars by poilus. In the 
meantime groups of English avions performed stunts 
over our heads. With a load of French officers in 
each ambulance we sped off for a town called Aumale. 
In Aumale the officers left us. We secured a meal 
from a French kitchen, and then drove into the 
Grande Place. Slept in our ambulances that night. 
And how it did rain ! Met Wasem in the morning. 

It was almost eleven o'clock when we got up. 
Hub stood guard while the rest of us lool^ed for a 
place to eat. We walked around town, inquiring at 
all the cafes and restaurants, but no luck. Finally 
we spied a fine-looking mademoiselle in the front of 
a hotel. In we went. And we had "some" meal, with 
the mademoiselle waiting on us. While in the midst 
of our repast who should walk in but Lieutenants 
Jamon and Abbot ! The Section had arrived by 
Ford from Charmes. The Lieutenant gave us orders 
to report for one o'clock roll call. 



THE PHILOSOPHER SPEAKS 

By Albert Perkins 

Having served with the French most of the time, 
we have enjoyed a personal freedom unusual in army 
life. It has been inconvenient for our own army to 
exert its much craved for authority over us, while 
the French did not choose to bring us under their 
regular military schedule. We have had every reason 
to consider ourselves as having been the elite in both 
armies; but it was not by their will so much as by 
our peculiar position. Many lasting benefits de- 
rived from our service might have been lost to us 
under strictly military rules. But thanks to our 
choice and our position we have been unhampered in 
our work and have reaped the benefits which go with 
personal freedom and good judgment. Most of our 
troubles have come on leave, when we have been 
obliged to suffer the iron hand of an M. P. to be 
placed upon our tender shoulder. Great humiliation 
has come at such a time, forming many wicked designs 
in our mind, but good judgment has deferred action 
and reason has calmed our troubled spirits by remind- 
ing us that our difficulty is only temporary and that 
we will once more join our much beloved elite. 



SECTION LOG 



FOREWORD 

Written as a semiofficial record of the various events 
in the Section's history, this diary was never intended 
for publication. To settle questions as "When did I go 
on leave?" or "What was the date of that big attack?" 
the diary may prove of value. Happenings are recorded 
in the most prosaic manner, and unfortunately many of 
the amusing personal incidents could not be included. 
"Line upon line" and "Here a little and there a little" 
tell the story of its composition. A sense of duty and 
the realization that memory when overtaxed is not in- 
fallible, were alone the inspiration for many of its 
entries. I hope to be pardoned for my brevity in writ- 
ing of those last hectic weeks between Germany and 
freedom. The short glossary at the end lists some of 
the words which became a part of our everyday speech, 
but which may not be familiar to all readers. To Lieu- 
tenant Abbot and Sergeant Lundgren, who filled in the 
record while I was on leave or on extended trips to the 
postes, I extend credit and thanks. 

George Butler. 



SECTION LOG 
By George Butler 

1917 

June 22. Yale Unit, thirty-six strong, leaves New 
Haven for Allentown at 8 a.m. in charge of Henry 
W. Johnstone. On train we receive first army' pay — 
a 50 cent check to buy lunch in New York, where we 
have three hours off. By train to Allentown, then 
take trolley to the Ambulance Camp at the Fair 
Grounds. March into camp at 4.45. Much cheer- 
ing. Assigned quarters in old horse stalls. Supper 
of corned beef, prunes and tea. Try to sleep on 
straw and canvas. 

June 23. Unit detailed in A.M. to Q. M. Dept., 
where men unload and stow away tent poles, bundles 
of cots, tents, etc. Work with California bunch and 
earn dinner. First meeting of Section in P.M. when 
Johnstone is unanimously chosen as First Sgt. J. W. 
Peters elected Sgt. and N. S. Hubbard, Corp. Good 
spirit. 

June 24. Day off. Most of men look over town 
and Central Park. 

June 25. Calisthenics this A.M. in charge of Corp. 
Hubbard. Start foot drill under non-coms — decide 
not to wait for instructions. First typhoid inocula- 



194 S. S. U. 585 

tion. No one from Section "passes out," Song 
Leader Clarke arrives in camp. 

June 26. Germs are working this A.M. Section 
drill on race track — only few men have uniforms. 
First lecture on bandaging. Men hand in statements 
of qualifications for jobs as mechanics, clerks and 
orderlies. Monk of Washington University assigned 
Section as drill instructor. 

June 27. "Deak" Lyman entertains Section with 
"Capt. Sims" and French Canadian stories. 

June 28. Temporary appointment of Core and 
Houlihan as orderlies, Marcellus, Beecher and Brad- 
ley as mechanics, and Clifford and Butler, clerks. 
Butler is elected section treasurer; 25 cents assess- 
ment is made on each man for section expenses. 

June 29. Sgt. Peters elected captain of section 
baseball team and Lynch is manager. Holbrook sets 
up barber shop. 

June 30. General clean-up for inspection. 
First battalion inspection — First Lieut. Whitney 
in charge. We are with California, Oberlin and 
three New York University sections. 

July 1. Holbrook buys bulldog (old and sick) as 
section mascot. 

July 3. Bulldog is raffled off — Holbrook is lucky 
and Section glad. 

July 4. Acting Capt. Whitney assigned to Sec- 
tion — also Battalion Commander. A holiday. Big 
track meet in afternoon — won by Michigan. Borden 
gets second place in mile and "Deak" fourth in the 
half. Yale relay team is third (and last). 

July 5. Our day to keep grounds clean. Second 



SECTION LOG 195 

typhoid inoculation — thus we miss lecture and drill. 
New Haven Unit reaches camp. Jelly for supper 
tonight from Allentown ladies. 

July 6. Lady across street gives Section fine big 
cake. 

July 7. No. 85 is leading Section at battalion 
drill. Commendation for good marching. 

July 8. Post Exchange opens branch in mess- 
hall. Each Section gets three cakes from Allentown 
ladies. Mrs. Lockwood sends Section box of fudge. 

July 9. Bill Flint returns from New Haven, 
bringing Irish terrier "Pat" with him. 

July 10. Wait around in rain about three hours 
for uniforms. Look more like soldiers now. Box of 
fudge from Adele. "Steve" hands out bunch of 
tickets for ice cream festival at church. 

July 11. Tremaine joins Section. Big men get 
much-needed slickers. Get our first pay — nine dol- 
lars apiece — after a long wait. 

July 12. First Lieut. Ferguson assigned No. 85 
as Commander. In afternoon have our first drill for 
five days — also our first drill on Allentown streets. 
Section ordered to report for rehearsal for "The 
Marseillaise." 

July 13. Balmer transferred from Section 72. 

July 14. Weber joins from Casuals. Bowerman 
and Cunningham transferred from Section 113. 
Inspection and battalion drill. Lieut. Ferguson on 
hand but gives no orders. In afternoon Bastile Day 
is celebrated at grandstand. Speeches and review 
of Penn. sections. Our Section part of chorus of 
500 which sings "The Marseillaise" in French. 



196 S. S. U. 585 

July 16. Hike into country in A.M. In after- 
noon various men tried out as drill leaders. Van 
Doren proves to be a wonder. Some mix-up ! 

July 17, "Steve" returns from home with much 
fudge and dozens of lollypops. 

July 19. Fine mess today as Surg.-Gen. Gorgas 
is visiting camp. During morning drill, Section is 
treated to ice cream cones by unknown friend. 

July 20. First litter drill under Capt. Whitney. 
Glad to hear we have chance of being in first detach- 
ment to sail for France. Week-end passes cut down. 
Section entertained by "Big Brothers" at home of 
Rev. Steinle. Lots of smokes, ice cream and cakes. 
"Deak" entertains party with readings and stories. 
Good speeches by "Brothers," who are given Yale 
cheers. 

July 22. Scarborough joins from Casuals. Camp 
closed in A.M. — diphtheria scare. 

July 23. Lundgren has detail lugging provisions 
all morning. Hot battalion drill in afternoon, fol- 
lowed by bearer drill. Eighteen men and Sgt. Peters 
on M. P. duty tonight. 

July 25. More clothing — denims for all. Eat 
watermelons given by Mr. Bowerihan. Another box 
of candy from Adele. Clifford buys record book for 
Section. After drill Section marches to Mr. Woods' 
and neighbors', where we are treated to lemonade, 
cake and sandwiches. 

July 26. Litter drill — without litters. First dose 
paratyphoid. Not bad. 

July 27. Big day for Section 85. Learn that we 
are among the twenty sections to leave at once for 



SECTION LOG 197 

France. First Lieut. Wharton assigned to us, re- 
placing Lieut. Ferguson. Inexperienced men take 
auto test — most of them pass as first-class drivers. 
Hernia test by Major Coe. Clerks busy on paper 
work. 

July 28. New Lieutenant right on job for setting- 
up exercises. Inspection of packs at field, T. B. 
exam — after a long wait. Week-end passes can- 
celed. Identification tags stamped. In P.M. we 
receive our ordnance. Busy! Corp. Hubbard is 
appointed Sergeant and Pvt. Lundgren Corporal. 

July 29. Rainy morning — mark ordnance. Wait 
around for flat-foot exam, which doesn't come till 
P.M. Many fellows have folks in camp and see them 
for only few minutes. Harper joins from Section 
91, Wasem from 88 and Lewis from Casuals. Dean 
Brown in camp today and visits Section. At 3 p.m. 
get second paratyphoid and smallpox vaccination. 
Para stiffens our arms. Get more equipment — 
barrack bags, tents. 

July 30. A sick, sore bunch in A.M. Drill. 
Later ordered to mark all clothes, get "housewife" 
and send all extra clothing home today. We may 
get out tonight. At 9 p.m. attend illustrated lec- 
ture. Eleven when we return to barracks. Section 
order No. 1 makes Marcellus and Beecher, mechanics ; 
Harper, cook; and Butler, Clifford, Campbell, Core 
and Larsen, Privates, 1st class. 

July 31. Back to old schedule. Hottest day so 
far; no drill in afternoon. 

August 1. A scorcher, but about 7.30 a.m. ter- 
rific wind and rain storm. "Perk" goes shopping and 



198 S. S. U. 585 

buys nice pink mirror for Cunningham. Crane as- 
signed from Casuals. Unit now complete. 

August 2. First instruction in making blanket 
roll. Some stunt. 

August 3. Men sleeping out last night chased in 
by rain. Final inspection of rolls — later of entire 
equipment laid on cots — by Col, Jones and Capt. 
Whitney. Mr. Bowerman takes pictures of most of 
the men. Section has its picture taken at 2.30 p.m. 
Free for rest of day. Men must be in cots by 11 p.m. 

August 4. Long wait in heavy marching order 
before having pictures taken for "movies." Clean 
quarters thoroughly. Section marches to flag rais- 
ing at five. Speeches by Col. Persons and senator. 
No one can leave camp tonight. 

August 5. Proofs of section picture here — Mr. 
Bowerman will see that one is sent to each man's 
home. Orders come to have barrack bags ready for 
shipment at 9.30 tomorrow. Looks as though we are 
going sure. 

August 6. Packs and bags ready by 9.15. Last 
dose of paratyphoid later — hits us awfully hard. 
Hang around till about 5 p.m. when we are paid. 
Each man gets comfort bag from Red Cross. Rains 
hard — everybody "low." Sure we go tonight though 
no instructions. Most of men lie on floor in clothes. 
At 11.30 awakened and with our packs, march to 
Q. M. where we leave cots — then to mess-hall where 
we get sandwiches, coffee and orange. Thorpe is 
sick. Entrain at siding near camp and are off with 
eleven other sections— Nos. 1, 9, 10, 12, 17, 25, 39, 
86, 92, 93, 94. 



SECTION LOG 199 

August 7. At 1.10 a.m. train leaves Allentown — 
pulls into Jersey City about 5.30. After trans- 
ferring baggage to ferry, move up North River to 
Hoboken where we disembark and board the San 
Jacinto— old Mallory Line boat. Get quarters in 
hold. Infantrymen, engineers and field clerks on 
board. San Jacinto leaves dock at noon but drops 
anchor off Fort Hamilton till 8.30 p.m., when, with 
four other transports and convoy of two destroyers 
and one battle cruiser, we sail for France. 

August 8. Roll call at 6 a.m. Ocean calm. Ships 
swing from file into line. "Abandon ship" drill — 
twenty-seven of our men assigned to boat No. 5. 
Get can of Tuxedo and bag of "Bull" apiece from 
New York girls. Some of men are seasick. Sgt. 
Hubbard is appointed keeper of the bath record — 
must take a bath every two days. 

August 9. Marcellus put in charge of boat No. 5 
and crew is appointed. Setting-up exercises at 3 
p.m. Some stunt! Double quick around deck for 
mile or so — a part of daily schedule. 

August 10. Bunch of men on kitchen police today. 
Last U. S. news by wireless. 

August 11. Underwear inspection — a new cere- 
mony. Tramp steamer appears in afternoon and is 
stopped by one of the destroyers. Rain. 

August 12. Sunday celebrated as wash day. 
From 8.30 to 9.30 we are scrubbing. Can hang 
clothes on deck for an hour only — then put them 
away wet. Search for post exchange box but it can't 
be found. Everyone is keen for sweets. California 



200 S. S. U. 585 

Section offers to share its box with us. No exercises 
today. Kill a big rat in quarters about 9 p.m. 

August 15. Heavy fog this morning and one of 
ships is missing, finally reappears — also tanker. 
Destroyers "tank up." Change course several times. 
"General quarters" drill. Getting rough. Receive 
tobacco and chocolate from California Section. 

August 17. Wake up to find regular sewer under 
our bunks. Very rough. About 11 a.m. six Ameri- 
can destroyers appear — our old convoy returns to 
the U. S. The San Jacinto is now flagship. 

August 18. Sgt. Johnstone sick and moves to ship 
hospital for remainder of trip. Ordered to get bar- 
rack bags ready. Traveling by French time now. 
"Deak's" bed gives way under him. 

August 19. About 11 a.m. six transports and 
convoy are seen. Zigzag considerably, change course 
and guns are loaded. About 1.30 p.m. "sub" call is 
sounded. Destroyer drops mine and "sub" dis- 
appears. 

August 20. Quiet night, big fleet of fishing 
smacks visible this morning. At 8.30 submarines are 
sighted and for one and one half hours have a great 
fight with them. Land is sighted at same time and 
aeroplanes sail over us. About fifty shells are fired 
by our guns. Everyone puts on life belt. Ships 
zigzag into zone of safety — then we pass Belle-Isle, 
a welcome and beautiful sight. Breton pilot guides 
us along coast and up the Loire. Setting-up exer- 
cises while we steam up river and enter the basin at 
St. Nazaire at 4.30 p.m. No one leaves boat tonight. 

August 21. First call at 3.40. Clean up and 



SECTION LOG 201 

leave San Jacinto at seven. March to camp No. 1 
about one and one half miles from dock. Assigned 
to wooden barracks. Men raid Y. M. C. A. canteen. 
In P.M. bunch have swim in river. 

August 22. Foot drill for one and one half hours. 
Later first-aid lecture. In afternoon two hours' 
litter drill. Must take shower baths in squads. Sev- 
eral men help put out fire in warehouse in town. 

August 24. Our first mail in France. 

August 25. Complete inspection of packs and 
barracks. Lynch lacks control. 

August 26. Several men go to celebration in honor 
of Americans, held at La Boule. Twelve from Sec- 
tion walk there and get great reception from crowds. 
Pours, and bunch has big feed at hotel. 

August 27. "Howie" returns at 2 a.m. Was ar- 
rested by marine M. P.'s last night. A misunder- 
standing. 

August 30. Van discusses his indigestion with the 
Lieutenant at lecture this A.M. and "Deak" gives 
explanation, much to amusement of Section. Very 
strenuous hike in afternoon but we can't eat black- 
berries. Return to camp at terrible rate — much fun 
over "Cadence march!" 

September 1. Yale baseball team loses seven- 
inning game to Harvard 4-2. Legore in box for 
Yale, Frye for Harvard. Lyman, Perkins, Shepard, 
Shively, Wasem, Wasilik and Bradley recommended 
for Privates, 1st class. Crane appointed cook. 
"Deak" and "Bowy" in respective roles of monkey 
and organ grinder cause much merriment. 

September 2. Section goes to Nantes today. 



202 S. S. U. 585 

Travel second-class. Look over cathedral, chateau 
and city. Return in afternoon. Pumpkin pie before 
"Taps." 

September 3. First drill in pitching dog tents. 
The same in afternoon. We are only Section wearing 
blouses. Fellows sore. "Deak" pays sixteen francs 
for last half-pie at auction. Jimmy Weber operated 
on at Base Hospital for appendicitis. Baseball team 
beats Bucknell 10-5. "Pete," "Howie" and "Was" 
make home runs. Shively pitches for Yale. 

September 4. Borden appointed French teacher. 
"Forward — Halt!" and "Left side step — March!" 
on hike with seven sections this afternoon. A three- 
hour hike. "Deak" wrestles No. 92 man to a draw 
at "Y" tonight. 

September 6. Semaphore drill for first time. 
Section must wear blouses on hike. Some cursing ! 

September 7. Paid today, and section accounts 
are settled. 

September 8. No more drill — replaced by detail. 
Most of men are sent to docks to unload freighters. 
Few are put to work assembling cars. Hereafter 
everyone is busy. 

September 11. Larrabee takes a day off. Box of 
candy from Adele. 

September 12. Get gloves today. First Sgts. 
Abbot and McGinley get commissions as 1st Lieuts, 
U. S. A. A. S. Sgt. Peters sick with malaria, to 
hospital. 

September 13. "Houly," "Bob" and "Dave" put 
on prison detail for not getting up for morning roll 
call. 



SECTION LOG 203 

September 15. Lieut. Wharton announces his 
transfer. Lieut. Abbot is assigned to Section. 
Borden takes job as Mess Sergeant. 

September 16. Four sections (Nos. 1, 17, 12 and 
93) leave camp with ambulances. Entire contingent 
attached to French Army. 

September IT. Most of Section working on Fords 
today. "Shep" goes into milk business. 

September 20. Move to another barracks to make 
room for infantry. "Clif" strains back trying to 
lift bed. This P.M. eight other ambulance sections 
arrive at camp. Came via England and Le Havre. 
Bunch of transports arrive. 

September 21. Fourteen men from Section 52 
(Fordham) move into one end of our barracks. 
First Sgt. buys lot of candy, smokes, syrup, etc., 
today. About noon big bunch of infantry march 
into camp. 

September 23. Get much-needed overcoats today. 
Sgt. Peters back from hospital. (Clifford came yes- 
terday.) Lieut. Abbot takes bunch of men on hike 
to St. Marc. 

September 25. Ambulances are assigned Section 
today, but we continue work on bodies. "Perk" is 
working in kitchen today ; mighty happy. 

September 26. Start work on our cars. Core 
and Perkins promoted to tire-pumping squad. 

September 27. List of drivers and orderlies an- 
nounced and everj^one works to get his own car into 
shape. Hoods are painted. Lieut. Abbot announces 
that we shall leave Saturday A.M. 

September 28. Inspection of equipment. New 



204 S. S. U. 585 

driving list announced. Cars are taken out for short 
run. Packard truck is assigned to Section — also 
another touring car. All Section ready for start. 

September 29. Up at 5.15. Band plays as we 
pull out at 7.15. We follow Sections 25 and 39; 92 
is behind. We have twenty-five Ford ambulances, 
two touring cars, one Ford and one Packard truck. 
Fine ride through country. Hard bread for mess 
at Ancenis. Bunch of flat tires during day due to 
hobnails. Holbrook breaks light and hood — banged 
into car ahead. At 5.15 arrive at Angers, where we 
park cars for night in square. Sleep in ambulances. 
Cover one hundred and sixty-one kilometres today. 

September 30. Up by moonlight and set out at 
seven. Wonderful roads and beautiful country. 
Short stop at La Fleche — spend one and a half hours 
in Le Mans, have a chance to see the city. Strike 
long hills in afternoon. Thorpe's car towed in. 
Reach Nogent-le-Routrou about 5.30. Most of us 
will be billeted tonight. Men go off in pairs to find 
sleeping place. Some are disappointed. Men are 
invited to attend "movies," but must pay admission. 
All except guard are free for evening. One hundred 
fifty kilometres today. 

October 1. Men tell of last night's experiences — 
fine beds, nobody home, etc. Leave at 7 a.m. A 
more moderate rate today — roads in poor shape. 
Reach Chartres at 10.30 and park in square until 
noon. Men have chance to see wonderful cathedral. 
Ride through wooded country to Versailles, where we 
park for one and a half hours. Bunch of soldiers. 
Men look through Palace — Gallery of Mirrors, of 



SECTION LOG 205 

Battles, bed of Louis XIV, etc. Also short trip 
through gardens. At six leave for camp — many 
brake bands burned out on long hill. Sgt. Peters 
smashes front of car. All lights are put out, but 
moon is very bright. Hit fast clip. Soon after nine 
reach farmhouse at Sandricourt where the Base 
Camp is located. Everybody arrives but mechanics 
who are with Sgt. Peters. First French mess. 

October 2. Up at 7.15 — first calisthenics for long 
time. Regular French breakfast of hot coffee, milk 
and bread. Section gets quarters on second floor of 
the farmhouse. Houlihan is at woodpile. Detail 
puts up barbed wire fence to make park for cars. 
Muster roll by Lieut. Abbot. Only light is a lantern, 
so men hit hay early. 

October 3. No more sleeping in cars. Detail cuts 
down big tree near gate. New French cots arrive 
and are set up. Ten men sleep in carriage-room. 
This A.M. order comes for three men from our Sec- 
tion to go on detached service with No. 64, now at 
Front. Houlihan, Larrabee and Van Doren chosen. 
First men to leave the Section, though still on our 
roll. Big mail tonight. 

October 4. Detail laying pipe and putting up 
another fence. Couple of dogs accompany buglers 
at retreat. Sgt. announces that we leave for Bar- 
le-Duc Sunday, taking ten ambulances with us. 
Tremaine gets ^Eolian-Vocalion. 

October 5. Many of the men take a hot shower 
today — the first for a long time. Have to heat our 
own water. Col. Jones in camp — we may not go 



206 S. S. U. 585 

Sunday, and may leave by train. Disappointed. 
Trucks are hauling ashes to fill swamp. 

October 6. Trucks hauling lumber from Meru and 
some of our men prepare to erect barracks. Pay- 
master arrives from Paris and we get money. Bunch 
tries to keep warm around fireplace in Y. M. C. A. 
room. Some smoke ! 

October 7. Order comes that thirty-five men from 
each section will leave for Front Monday A.M. 
Everyone sorry the Section must be split. Specula- 
tion as to who the unfortunates shall be. Men to be 
left are Sgt. Hubbard, Core, Durant, Flint, Hol- 
brook, Stevens and Thorpe. A disappointed bunch. 
Others prepare for departure. 

Rainy A.M. Before mess order comes for entire 
Section to leave. Everyone happy — "Steve" nearly 
jumps out of skin. March to train at Bornel — leave 
for Paris at 8.30; transfer all baggage there. Red 
Cross ambulances take us to Base Hospital No. 1 at 
Neuilly ; ride through Paris. Pile packs in New 
Haven ward and then enjoy fine feed — tables, French 
waitresses, etc. Sections 93 and 17 are stationed 
there having easy time. Wait around hospital all 
the rainy afternoon. Some of men attend afternoon 
tea in basement — served by fine American ladies — 
American nurses are quite centre of attraction. 
After good supper leave for Gare de I'Est. Take 
train for Bar-le-Duc at eight, arriving at 2 a.m. (the 
ninth). Most of men sleep as much as possible, on 
seats, in the aisles, on blanket rolls or in baggage 
racks. Neil Lynch entertains some French ladies 
during most of trip. Raining. 



SECTIOxN LOG 207 

October 9. At Bar-le-Duc pile into couple of 
camions and leave for the Front at 3.30 a.m. Long 
jerky ride up hills to Genicourt, past ruined towns 
where French troops are quartered, arriving about 
7 a.m. Our new quarters — an old house ; everything 
very dirty. Feed of ham and eggs, bread and coffee, 
served by S. S. U. 63 (Red Cross Unit), which we 
relieve today. Seven of our men go out with the cars 
(Fiats) for first trip. Barracks are cleaned. Guns 
are heard distinctly and at night can see flashes and 
star shells. Section receives library from No. 63. 
To bed very early. 

October 10. Hot chocolate for breakfast. Work 
is continued on cars. Stretchers, blankets, etc., 
cleaned and checked up. Lieut. Abbot gives good 
talk on our work in the field. We are attached to 
the 165th French Division, which goes in repos 
tomorrow, and we go with them. In the afternoon 
the Section which is to replace us here arrives. It 
proves to be the Yale Section of the American Field 
Service. Most of the men are from Yale — among 
them are our three absentees — "Hap," "Larry" and 
"Van." Several more of our men go out on ambu- 
lances. Heavy firing on Verdun front tonight. Rats 
also are busy in quarters. 

October 11. List of drivers and orderlies for the 
trip is read off. Rainy day. Cars and baggage are 
made ready for trip. Fine big feeds today. Hard 
floors are "getting to" the men's kidneys. 

October 12. Raining hard. After hour's delay 
get started soon after eight. On road to Bar-le-Duc 
pass ammunition and supply trains moving to Front 



208 S. S. U. 585 

and tired horses and men of our Division going on 
repos. Wind, rain and cold are mighty active today. 
At Bar-le-Duc see effects of German air raids. Two 
blocks in the centre of town are entirely destroyed 
by fire — started by bombs. "Cave Voutee" signs 
everywhere. Stop for mess at Ligny-en-Barrois at 
bicycle shop. Get warm inside house. "Shep" is 
our first blesse — cuts eye cranking car. Continue 
ride over hills — few inhabitants — passing through 
St. Aubin and Void. Few signs of war here. By 
Vaucouleurs to Maxey, where we drop "Brad" and 
"Shive." Reach Amanty, our destination, at dark. 
No quarters ready for us, but Lieuts. find a barn 
where we all pile in — drenched, for it's still pouring. 
Roll up in blankets on hay and after a ham sand- 
wich for supper, and numerous comments on our fine 
quarters, forget our troubles in sleep. 

October 13. Still raining, but have few exercises 
before breakfast. Ballantyne, Bates, Borden, Goo- 
gins, Peters and Tremaine are appointed Privates, 1st 
class. After feed of hot chocolate and jam, bunch 
of men cleans out barnyard to make parking place 
for cars. Others clean up barn (our quarters) and 
unload the cars. Fellows do not relish taking orders 
from French personnel of Section. Lieut, and Sgt. 
ride over to American camp at Gondrecourt, where 
they buy supplies. The town buvette and the bou- 
langerie prove very popular. 

October 14. Raining again. Have to move 
kitchen across the alley — also give up office, as man 
who owns place is returning. Few men who are not 
on detail attend mass at church near by. In after- 



SECTION LOG 209 

noon, "Shep" conducts a pilgrimage to Domremy to 
visit Jeanne d'Arc's home. Men report country 
there as beautiful. Bunch also hikes to camp at 
Gondrecourt. 

October 15. Receive orders to move tomorrow to 
Burey-en-Vaux. Most of day is spent checking 
equipment and packing cars. We're getting adept 
at this. About 9.30 p.m. Shively drives up and says 
ten ambulances are to be sent to Vaucouleurs by 
12.30. Assembly is blown and everyone is set to 
work unloading cars. Twenty men and the Lieut, 
leave about 11 p.m. 

October 16. Ambulances reach Vaucoulfeurs at 
midnight but train of blesses doesn't arrive till after 
2.30 a.m. Keep warm in hospital at station. 
Blesses are carried to two hospitals near by — seven 
cars then take loads to Ourches, the others returning 
to camp. It's nearly 8.30 when the seven cars reach 
Amanty and everyone is starving and cold. Before 
10 a.m. Section is en route for Burey-en-Vaux; 
about an hour's ride. Small, dirty town. Men are 
disgusted with place and people here. Fellows are 
"soaked" so at buvette and store that they decide to 
boycott the town. Another barn to clean out before 
it's fit to sleep in ! Couple of rooms in old cafe for 
guardroom and library — office and kitchen on another 
street and garage is in another barn. Men fill ticks 
with straw. Fine feed and by 7 p.m. most of the 
men are hitting hay for much-needed sleep. 

October 17. Men work getting kitchen in shape — 
also get cars ready for service. American machine- 
gun company passes through town on way to Front. 



210 S. S. U. 585 

Boche aeroplane passes over town about 7 p.m. — 
street lights go out. 

October 18. "Bal" and "Was" have bad colds 
and are treated by French doctors with hot cups. 
Guard rules are made more strict. Hereafter guards 
must wear O. D. coats, belts, and no smoking, but 
old guard privileges. 

October 19. "Was" taken to Toul hospital today. 
First mail for long time arrives. 

October 20. Oatmeal with milk and sugar for 
breakfast — the first for a long time. In P.M. Sec- 
tion moves from the barn to rooms above the cafe, 
where our parlors are located. 

October 21. Last night Borden wakes up the 
bunch with his "Oh, gosh ! gosh !" Larkin thinks he 
is yelling, "Boches !" Bunch of men to Vaucouleurs 
today to see town. Lieut. Abbot goes to Paris. 

October 22. We get our gas masks this morning 
and test them in a room filled with chlorine gas. 

October 23. Two packages of candy and gum are 
received by Section from unknown friend in New 
York. 

October 24. Balmer sick; taken to hospital at 
Toul. Lieut. Abbot returns from Paris. 

October 25. Weber relieves Campbell as bugler 
today. Two allotments for second Liberty Loan. 

October 26. Sgt. buys bunch of supplies, etc., at 
Gondrecourt and has a sale. 

October 27. Information blanks for French Army 
are filled out. Holbrook is taken to Bazouilles for 
an operation. 

October 28. First snow of the season this evening. 



SECTION LOG 211 

October 30. Sgt. Hubbard leaves for Paris to 
take exam for aviation corps. Postes : St. Germain, 
one car; Maxey, two cars; Nossencourt, one car. 

October 31. Muster at 8.30; then sign the pay 
roll. Big mail in evening. 

November 1. All Saints' Day and a half holiday 
for Section. Big party for men on poste at Maxey. 

November 2. Bradley leaves for Custines. Prepa- 
rations for leaving Burey. It's "Jour des Morts" 
and in afternoon Section and French troops march 
to cemetery on hill where address is made by Medecin- 
Chef. Later several Frenchmen are decorated with 
the Croix de Guerre. 

November 3. Section leaves Burey at 7.30. 
Passes by Toul and through Nancy, arriving at 
Custines about noon. Relieves French Section 57. 
Good parking place for cars and good kitchen. Two 
rooms upstairs are not large enough for Section. 

November 4. In A.M. men fix up mess-hall and 
clean cars and grounds. No details in afternoon. 

November 5. Two rooms secured in near-by 
house for men who have no places. Receive cots this 
A.M. Put up screen for garage and clean out cellar 
for living-room. At noon guns on hill start firing 
at Boche plane which passes directly over us. Plane 
escapes. Frenchman appears later. Lynch and 
Shively arrive with cars from Maxey. 

November 6. Section office established in "cave." 
Six big sacks of packages and papers arrive. Bunch 
of men allowed off today for a hot shower. Rules of 
cantonment are posted. 

November 8. Sgt. Hubbard returns from Paris 



212 S. S. U. 585 

bringing Ford touring car. Heavy wool socks and 
other Q. M. supplies arrive. Many men are sick in 
quarters with grippe. 

November 11. Only necessary details today. 
Room is rented for malades in house down street. At 
present there are no postes, but two cars are always 
on call. 

November 12. Two ambulances take French offi- 
cers to Gas Convention at Jeandelaincourt. 

November 13. A sunny day! Several French 
planes seen this afternoon and guns on hill are tried 
out. About 7 p.m. Boche planes drop bombs at 
Pompey. Searchlights are trained on them and 
"75's" and machine guns open fire. Section much 
interested — its first night attack. 

November 14. Five of men move to room down 
the street. Soccer ball is blown up and used for first 
time. Larkin hurts ankle in football game. Section 
takes "hike" to Morey. Fourteen French planes go 
by. Balmer and Wasilik rejoin Section — back from 
hospital in Toul. 

November 15. Two American officers and four 
privates (the last named in a Ford ambulance) bring 
953 frs. for section fund — a dividend from Allen- 
town mess fund. Another air raid about 8.45 p.m., 
too late in evening to interest men. 

November 16. General clean-up of grounds and 
quarters for Quartermaster is expected today — also 
French General on tour of inspection. Neither man 
appears. Football is blown up today. Good game. 

November 17. Larkin taken to evacuation hospi- 
tal at Champigneulles — small bone in his ankle 



SECTION LOG 213 

broken. Inspection of cars, quarters and grounds 
by Lieut. Abbot. Will be held biweekly hereafter 
Wednesday and Saturday. Sgt. Johnstone and office 
moves to small room on fourth floor. Big mail today. 
Holbrook returns from hospital at Bazouilles, bring- 
ing an ambulance from Nancy. 

November 18. Several men attend special church 
service for French soldiers killed in war. In P.M. 
bunch goes to "movies" in French barracks in Mil- 
lery, or to Pompey. 

November 19. Lieut, and Sgt. Johnstone go to 
Nancy to see about having electric lights installed in 
quarters. 

November 21. Sgt. Johnstone sick today. Bunch 
of men under Larsen enclose mess-hall. Half holiday 
for Section. 

November 22. Learn that we are to move to 
Sandricourt. Some surprise! Preparations for de- 
parture. Section fund becomes banker for men who 
have room rent and laundry to settle for. 

November 23. Cars packed — masks and "Cana- 
dians" turned in to bureau. Much section property 
is stored. French Ambulance Section arrives in 
morning. About 2 p.m. Section leaves Custines for 
Nancy. Differential on Holbrook's car is broken 
when he is headed for canal ; car taken to Pare Y. 
See "movies" in caserne tonight. Sleep in cars or in 
French barracks. 

November 24. Tools and gas masks checked up — 
former turned in. Blankets, stretchers and much 
section material stored in Pare. Noon meal in big 
mess-hall. Section rides to R. R. station in big 



214 S. S. U. 585 

truck. Train leaves about 4.40 and no lights till we 
reach Chalons early in A.M. Pass through Toul, 
Gondrecourt, Bar-le-Duc and Vitry-le-Fran9ois en 
route. 

November 25. After fourteen hours on train, out 
at Vaires, where we transfer for Paris train — pull 
into Gare-de-1'Est. Wait around station all morn- 
ing while arrangements are being made for trans- 
portation to Base Camp. Forty minutes' freedom 
in which to buy dinner. Lieut. Abbot secures passes 
for us for the afternoon, so from three to six we have 
chance to see Paris. Section attracts much attention 
while waiting for evening train at Gare-du-Nord. 
Packard trucks awaiting us at Bornel and we are 
soon at Sandricourt, where good meal is served. 

November 26. Section receives twenty Ford ambu- 
lances, one Ford delivery truck and one Packard 
truck, one field kitchen and one motorcycle and side- 
car. Drivers work getting cars in shape, for they 
are in wretched condition. Section cut to thirty- 
four men, and we must lose in addition to the three 
now on D. S., Balmer, Core, Durant, Holbrook, 
Lynch, Shepard, Sjostrom and Thorpe. "Neil" 
volunteers to stay behind, expects to transfer to 
aviation. Everyone mighty sorry to have the Section 
broken — our last assembly together before retreat. 
Most of men gather after supper in Y. M. C. A. 
tent — a most welcome addition to Sandricourt equip- 
ment. 

November 27. Rainy morning. Marcellus returns 
from Paris, where he went yesterday after spare 
parts. Turn in old clothes, and buy supplies at 



SECTION LOG 215 

Q. M. Leave camp at 2 p.m. for Nancy. Stop at 
"Place" at Ecouen (eighteen kilometres from Paris) 
for night. Section sleeps in barn. 

November 28. Late start on day's trip due to a 
bad motor. Cross the Marne, pass Meaux Cathedral 
and most of day's ride is through Marne battle- 
fields. Cars parked for night on square at Sezanne. 
Another night in a loft. 

November 29. Fill cars with "essence," then set 
out over thinly populated country. Pass American 
artillery camp. Arrive at Vitry-le-Francois at noon, 
and have an hour in which to get a Thanksgiving 
dinner. Over long winding hills through St.' Dizier, 
Ligny and to Void, where we park along main street. 
Taps at nine this evening. 

November 30, Off on last lap. Lieut. Abbot and 
Borden go to Gondrecourt for supplies. Section 
passes by Toul, arriving at Pare Y in Nancy about 
11.45. Have two rooms on third floor of French 
caserne. Cars parked in court. All windows must 
be darkened. 

December 1. Field kitchen put in shape. Section 
has a good mess-hall on first floor. Quarters are 
cleaned out. Lieut, Abbot gives talk on the trip, 
care of cars, passes and permissions. Packard truck 
taken to Custines to get stuff left there. Receive 
tobacco and cigarettes from New York Sun fund — 
also box of candy from Adele. 

December 2, Everyone gets a three-hour pass to 
the city. Fine big dinner today. Everyone pleased. 
Men apply for permissions, 

December 3. Sgt. Johnstone moves section sup- 



216 S. S. U. 585 

plies to quarters, so French can have more quiet 
bureau. Larkin visits us this noon ; ankle improving. 

December 4. Tools and equipment checked by 
Sgt. Peters. Four cars washed at Pare. Stoves set 
up in quarters. Sgt. Johnstone receives orders to 
report at the Automobile School at Meaux. Sgt. 
Peters placed in charge of the Section. 

December 5. Inspection of cars and quarters 
today. Houlihan, Larrabee and Van Doren return 
from detached service with S. S. U. 64 and S. S. U. 4. 
Three U. S. engineers drop in for noon mess. 
Beecher and Bradley leave on 4.30 train for Paris — 
en route for St. Sebastian — our first permission- 
naires. Sgt. Johnstone leaves with them for a two 
days' permission in Paris before reporting at Meaux. 
Given a long Yale yell and best wishes of every man 
in Section. Detail to Foret-de-Haye with Packard 
for a load of wood. More avions tonight. 

December 7. Lieut. Abbot gives Section short 
talk on conduct, care of cars, and permissions. 

December 8. Van Doren is sick — taken to hospi- 
tal in city. 

December 9. Every man has three and one half 
hours' pass to city. Good dinner. Bunch kicks foot- 
ball in afternoon. 

December 10. Gas masks given out. Two English 
soldiers on way to near-by camp spend night with 
the Section. 

December 11. Red Cross tents are shipped to 
Paris. Showers in building open for us this after- 
noon. 



SECTION LOG 217 

December 12. Camionette goes to forest for a 
stare of wood. 

December 13. Two English soldiers visit Section. 

December 16. Big mail. No details today — men 
may go to town but must return for meals. Oilskin 
coats, breeches and hats arrive. Paymaster comes 
with November pay. Col. Jones and Maj. Hall visit 
Section in afternoon — on tour of inspection. Several 
men go to city in afternoon to attend band concert 
in park. Others roller skate. 

December 17. Books bought for the section 
library. 

December 18. Lieut. Jamon returns frbm per- 
mission. L'Antoine leaves for permission. Lyman 
to hospital to have fleas cured. Larkin returns to 
Section from hospital. Packard goes to forest for 
wood. 

December 19. Ballantyne and Green to hospital 
for examinations for appendicitis. "Bal" is kept 
there under observation. Marechal-des-Logis Died- 
richs leaves for permission. 

December 20. Prophylaxis outfit arrives. Beecher 
and Bradley arrive this morning from permission at 
Biarritz ; report great time. Van Doren and Lyman 
return to Section from sick in Hospital Donop, 
Nancy. Lewis, Lyman and Perkins leave for per- 
mission. 

December 21. Motorcycle put in use today for 
first time. In afternoon Section receives orders to 
prepare for move at once. Things are packed and 
preparations for departure are immediately set 
under way. Ten parcels containing old clothes, 



218 S. S. U. 585 

shoes, field range, etc., are sent back to Quarter- 
master late this afternoon. Bunch of avions over 
city tonight. 

December 22. Section ready to move when word 
comes about 8.15 a.m. that we do not leave today. 
Ballantyne returns from Hospital Donop. Specu- 
lation as to when and where we will go. About 6 p.m. 
R. V. F. man brings message for the Lieut. Says we 
leave for Verdun in the morning. Returns at 10 p.m. 
saying we are not to leave Nancy. 

December 23. Up on regular Sunday schedule. 
About 9.30 orders come for Section to leave at once — 
frozen radiator holds up Section, and at eleven sets 
out for Baccarat. Stops at Luneville in front of 
chateau for lunch. Reach outskirts of Baccarat soon 
after 3 p.m. and wait around for two hours while 
Lieut. Jamon looks up quarters. Freeze ! Section 
92 is located here and we spend the night in their 
quarters. Park cars in the square near the "Cris- 
tallerie." 

December 24. After breakfast cars are moved to 
the French caserne, where Section is assigned three 
large rooms — two for Americans and one for 
French — and one small room for bureau. Mighty 
cold, but stove is set up in one of the rooms, also used 
for a mess-hall. Cunningham and Corp. Lundgren 
make first trip to Menil for three assis. Our Division 
has not yet come up to lines. Several avions around 
today. Section by unanimous vote declines invitation 
to join with Section 92 in their Christmas dinner. 

December 25. Snowed last night. Extra detail 
in kitchen today. Section has fine Christmas din- 



SECTION LOG 219 

ner — desserts are partly due to gifts from Lieut. 
Abbot and Bradley, Rubber boots and duplicate 
shipment of oilskins arrive today, but no Christmas 
packages. Lieut. Abbot makes a round of new sec- 
tion postes. Men are free to spend afternoon and 
evening in town. Each man gets two francs from 
section fund for supper. 

December 26. Box of turkeys and other Christmas 
articles arrive. Boots distributed. Check for five 
hundred and twelve francs arrives — to cover rations 
saved by Section at Base Camp. Crane and Bower- 
man taken to Hospital 12/16, Baccarat. Both have 
the grippe. Butler appointed Statistical Sub-Sec- 
tion for 63/585. Weber goes to Luneville for lost 
letter of credit — buys mandolin. 

December 27. Our Division starts moving up to 
trenches today. Section votes to have its turkey 
dinner at the hotel. More snow. 

December 28. French helmets arrive and are dis- 
tributed. Corp. Lundgren put in charge of oil and 
gasoline. Good music this evening, furnished by 
Green with mandolin, "Van" with the drum, "Howie" 
the bugle and Yens the harmonica. 

December 29. First big batch of Christmas pack- 
ages arrives. Bowerman and Crane return from 
hospital. In evening Section has dinner at H6tel-du- 
Pont. Fine feed. Frenchmen in Section are there, 
also Lieut. Mauser and the French Lieut, of No. 92. 
Short speeches by Lieut. Abbot, Larkin and Trief- 
fault. 

December 30. Section takes over postes today. 
Five cars out at all times — for present, two men to 



220 S. S. U. 585 

a car. Four postes — Badonviller, Montigny, Herbe- 
viller, Ogeviller. One car on call at H. O. E., Bacca- 
rat. Section is attached to the 128th Division. 
More packages. 

December 31. Section moves this afternoon to the 
quarters formerly occupied by Section 92 — at the 
"Cristallerie." Section 92 moves up to the caserne. 
Quiet New Year's Eve. Lewis and Lyman return at 
9 p.m. from permission in Paris. L'Antoine from 
permission. Proal to permission. 

1918 

January 1. Sleeping space is enlarged and a 
second stove set up. Room is hired next door — to 
be used as lounging-room and library. At a special 
assembly Lieut. Jamon extends New Year's greetings 
to the Section and makes short speech, followed by a 
toast to France, America and Victory. Big mail 
today. Several bottles of champagne are given 
Section by the French Gov't. 

January 2. Calisthenics returned to daily sched- 
ule — Stevens leaves this eve for permission. 

January 3. Kirby Green taken to Ambulance 226 
today — has the grippe. 

January 4. Lieut. Abbot tells Section that its 
gasoline consumption for December was incredibly 
large. New list of drivers announced and regulations 
for drivers are posted. Every precaution must be 
taken against loss of "essence." 

January 5. Bates and D. C. Peters went on their 
permission at 7.30 p.m. Shively assumes the duties 
of Mess Sergeant. 



SECTION LOG 221 

January 6. Cunningham and Van Doren to 
Ambulance 226 — have the grippe. 

January 7. Bureau moved to house next to quar- 
ters. Hot baths are provided in the Cristallerie. 

January 8. Kitchen enlarged. 

January 9. Inspection. Packard truck goes for 
wood. Straw received for ticks. No mail. 

January 10. Lieut. Abbot and Lieut. Jamon in- 
spect postes and infirmaries of the Badonviller sector 
with the Medecin Divisionnaire. Room for section 
infirmary hired adjoining "library." 

January 11. Cunningham and Green return from 
sick in Ambulance 226. Section receives tickets for 
a French musical show this evening. 

January 12. Lieut. Abbot and Lieut. Jamon in- 
spect roads in Badonviller sector — and visit Neu- 
viller. 

January 13. Van Doren returns from Ambulance 
226. 

January 14. Postes are changed today. Two 
cars are stationed at Migneville — no longer at Oge- 
viller and Herbeviller. Stevens returns from per- 
mission. 

January 15. In morning, Section learns that 
French are to make an attack at Badonviller. Four 
cars and the Packard are stationed there, four others 
at Pexonne and others held in waiting at Baccarat. 
Attack is made in afternoon — cars are kept busy 
carrying in blesses until after 2 a.m. Packard is 
stuck in a ditch near Vacqueville. Several Boche 
blesses brought in. 

January 16. Section rises late. More than thirty 



222 S. S. U. 585 

Boche prisoners are in the court before Division 
Headquarters today. Packard returns. Proal back 
from permission. 

January 17. Conference in first-aid methods at 
H. O. E. in the afternoon — Section attends. Bates 
and D. C. Peters return from permission. Lieut. 
Abbot goes to Nancy to get pay. 

January 18. Men paid today. Marcellus, Green 
and Tremaine leave on permission. 

January 19. Miiller, L'Antoine, Trieffault and 
Martinet leave Section. After today men must have 
"permis de circulation" to circulate in streets of 
Baccarat before 5 p.m. 

January 20. Men have the afternoon "off." 

January 21. New alarm clock — guard is up on 
time this morning. 

January 22. Section takes gas test at Caserne 
I'Admirault this afternoon. Beginning today there 
is but one guard. 

January 23. Inspection of cars, quarters and 
grounds. 

January 24. Conference at H. O. E. on bandag- 
ing and hypodermic injection. 

January 26. Box of reserve provisions is packed. 
Boxes containing Quaker Oats and phonograph 
records which were lost at Bar-le-Duc October 9 are 
received from Lieut. Mauser. Section is given tickets 
for entertainment given at the Military Theatre. 

January 27. Phonograph is placed in library. 
Ham and eggs for breakfast. Sachs of Section 92 
and a British soldier visit Section. 

January 29. Lieut. Abbot receives word that Sgt. 



SECTION LOG 223 

Johnstone is on permission at Nice before returning 
to Section. 

January 30. Three American soldiers from Head- 
quarters spend night with the Section. 

January 31. Third conference at H. O. E. on 
antiseptics, bandaging, etc. The three American 
soldiers are rationed with the Section. Lieut, visits 
the postes to have men on duty there sign pay roll. 

February 1. Card index for men of Section is 
completed. Several men take gas test. 

February 2. Marcellus, Tremaine and Green re- 
turn from permission. Corp. Lundgren, Baljantyne 
and Butler leave on permission at 7.30 p.m. 

February 3. Large American mail arrives, to- 
gether with a shipment of clothing. 

February 7. Work on Packard truck finished. 
Several cars washed. Fourth conference at H. O. E. 
Diedrichs leaves on permission. 

February 8. Small French attack expected last 
night. Lieut. Abbot and Lieut. Jamon go to Badon- 
viller to relieve Bates and Larsen, who are sent to 
Neuviller. Nothing doing. 

February 9. Weber and Larsen sent to Neuviller 
last night, but nothing happened. Slight French 
attack at Badonviller but no casualties. Lieut. 
Jamon, Lieut. Abbot and Sgt. Johnstone visit Badon- 
viller and find a new means of evacuating P. S. of 
Rendezvous-des-Chasseurs in case of attack on 
Badon. 

February 10. Another scare at Badonviller last 
night. 



224- S. S. U. 585 

February 11. Painting "S. S. U. 585" on cars is 
begun. 

February 12. Proal sent to Pare Y. Lieut. 
Abbot, Sgt. Johnstone, Marcellus and Campbell go 
to Nancy to meet paymaster. 

February 13. Boche plane drops bombs at Aze- 
railles early this A.M. Two cars are sent to get the 
victims. 

February 14. Last conference at H. O. E. 

February 15. Road from Vacqueville to Pexonne 
for one-way traffic only. Cars have to come back 
through Neuf-Maisons. 

February 16. Received shipment of tobacco from 
New York Sun fund and citizens of Allentown. 

February 17. Many American officers and troops 
of 42d Division arrive in Baccarat. 

February 18. Alerte for avions at ten o'clock last 
night. 

February 19. Harper returns from permission. 

February 20. Small ^^ coup-de-main" at Neuviller. 
Only three blesses. Corp. Lundgren, Ballantyne and 
Butler return from permission. Shipment of sport- 
ing goods from Y. M. C. A. arrives today. 

February 21. Big American mail. Lecture at 
H. O. E. on poisonous gases. Sgt. Peters, Campbell, 
Clifford and Cunningham leave for Nice on permis- 
sion. 

February 22. Section cars busy today with 
French and Americans. Fifteen calls. U. S. Field 
Hospital arrives — without equipment. 

February 24. Crane sent to Ambulance 226 with 
cut hand. Telephone message arrives from Chief 



SECTION LOG 225 

U. S. A. S. announcing appointment of Sgt. John- 
stone as First Lieut. U. S. A. A. S. and ordering him 
to report at once at Hqs. U. S. A. S. Diedrichs 
returns. 

February 25. At 8 a.m. roll call, Sgt. Hubbard 
presents Lieut. Johnstone with an officer's belt in 
behalf of the men of the Section. Many calls today. 
Men are assigned U. S. numbers. "Johnny" leaves 
for Paris. 

February 26. Perkins fills place of substitute 
cook to everyone's satisfaction. 

February 28. Lieut. Abbot and Jamon visit 
postes with Captain of the American Ambulance Sec- 
tion and arrange for transportation of sick and 
wounded. 

March 1. Starting today, men on poste at Badon- 
viller will carry rations from section kitchen. Road 
from Hablainville-Pettonville is reserved for one-way 
traffic. 

March 2. Letter received from Lieut. Johnstone 
stating that Carl Holbrook died three weeks ago 
from indigestion, and that Church Durant is very 
sick with heart trouble. Lyman and "Van" have a 
scrap. 

March 3. Men are paid for poste rations. Crane 
returns from Ambulance 226. 

March 4. Lieut. Abbot sends a letter to parents 
of Carl Holbrook and of Church Durant. 

March 5. During night of the fourth and fifth 
Germans attack in front of Badonviller. Fifteen 
Americans, including one captain, killed. Several 



226 S. S. U. 585 

cars sent out during the day. First American mail 
for nearly two weeks. 

March 6. General Pershing in town this morning. 
Packard makes three trips to Vacqueville, brings in 
thirty-three French who had been gassed. At 4 p.m. 
funeral is held for the Americans. 

March 7. Shipment of Y. M. C. A. goods arrives. 

March 8. No orderly sent out on Migneville and 
Badonviller cars today. Hereafter there will be but 
one orderly at each of these posts. Sgt. Peters, Clif- 
ford, Campbell and Cunningham return. 

March 9. Clocks moved ahead one hour at 11 p.m. 
today. Packard and two ambulances are sent to 
sawmill between St. Pole and St. Maurice, this noon, 
with brancardiers and supplies. French and Ameri- 
cans make coups at Neuviller and at Badonviller late 
in afternoon. Very few wounded — Boches had left 
trenches. Packard brings in load of gassed French- 
men — one car stays at sawmill all night. Four 
American ambulances from Company 168 are sta- 
tioned at Cristallerie "on call." 

March 10. Packard to sawmill for supplies. 
Borden, Shively and Wasem leave on permission. 

March 11. Two ambulances and the Packard to 
sawmill again. Diedrichs leaves Section. 

March 12. Early in A.M. Boches shell sawmill — 
shrapnel ruins radiator, lamps and motor of Pack- 
ard. Larrabee and Sgt. Peters have narrow escape 
when shell fails to explode near their heads. Truck 
towed in. 

March 14. Packard towed to Pare Y for re- 
pairs — Corp. Lundgren and Marcellus go with it. 



SECTION LOG 227 

Return with another Packard at 8 p.m. New 
Marechal-des-Logis and Brigadier Ordinaire arrive. 
Rouger and Emery. 

March 16. Van Doren assigned to quarters and 
kitchen police for two days. 

March 18. Capt.-Inspector Hurley arrives and 
goes over mess fund statements, clothing accounta- 
bility, etc. 

March 19. Five ambulances leave at 6 a.m. for 
evacuation of hospitals. Lieut. Abbot to Nancy for 
pay. Germans are shelling all roads along the 
Front — some of the cars have exciting runs. At 
8 p.m. two cars are sent to St. Pole with brancdrdiers 
and later three cars are sent up near L'Ecureuil. 
French expected to attack. 

March 20. Men from L'Ecureuil return at 5 
a.m. — those from St. Pole at nine. No blesses. 
Lieut. Abbot leaves for Paris this noon on permis- 
sion. Heavy firing all evening. 

March 21. Poste cars busy today. Van Doren 
is arrested by American M. P. at Badonviller for 
taking pictures. Held at Pexonne as a spy. Spends 
night in the guardhouse. 

March 22. Van Doren turned over to Sgt. Peters 
this A.M. by M. P. Very busy day — nineteen calls. 
Borden, Shively and Wasem return from permission 
at Aix-les-Bains. 

March 23. American troops continue to pass 
through Baccarat on way back from trenches. 
American Ambulance 168 leaves today. Orders ar- 
rive for Bates to report for Infantry O. T. C. which 
opens March 31, 1918. 



228 S. S. U. 585 

March 24. Eight ambulances are called out at 
3.4*5 to evacuate to French hospital train. Russell 
and Stevens are relieved at Montigny this A.M. — 
they have made eleven trips in less than two days. 
Section is ordered on the alerte today — no one can 
leave the cantonment. Mme. Thomas' house in 
Badonviller is ruined by a shell. Alerte for avions 
at 10 p.m. Brichard goes on permission. Learn of 
big German offensive and shelling of Paris. Can 
scarcely believe reports. 

March 25. So many shoes and tubes are punc- 
tured on the Badonviller road that Lieut. Jamon 
goes to Nancy to get supply. Lieut. Abbot returns 
from Paris. 

March 26. Lieuts. Abbot and Jamon visit Badon- 
viller this P.M. Flint and Voorhees and Lieut. 
Jamon are ready to leave on permission when order 
arrives suppressing all leaves. Avions over tonight 
drop bombs near railroad station. Men take to cave 
four times. 

March 28. Men ordered to cut down baggage as 
much as possible — hear that Section is to move soon. 
Pvt. Howard P. Potter joins Section from Base Camp 
U. S. A. A. S. tonight. 

March 30. Cars on poste at Montigny and Badon- 
viller are relieved by American ambulances. Lieuts. 
Abbot and Jamon inspect postes in St. Clement 
sector. 

March 31. Cars are stationed at new postes — 
two cars at Herbeviller, three at Benamenil and two 
at Domjevin. 

April 1. Up at 5.30. Raining hard. Leave Bac- 



SECTION LOG 229 

carat at eight for St. Clement. Section 92 does not 
get out until afternoon. Various rooms and lofts 
are assigned as quarters. Men very dissatisfied. 

April 3. Lieut. Jamon's car towed to Nancy and 
Ford touring car secured in its place. 

April 6. Brichard returns from permission. Car 
returning from Domjevin is not replaced. 

April 7. Two cars are sent to Moyen — stationed 
there at H. O. E. for evacuation work. Poste is 
changed from Herbeviller to Ogeviller. 

April 8. French start eating from the American 
kitchen today. "Mathe" helping our cooks. 

April 9. Section box of personal effects sent to 
Pare Y. Sgt. Hubbard is put in charge of motor 
supplies, tires, etc. 

April 11. Red Cross tent given to G. B. D., 128 
D. I. 

April 12. Lieut. Jamon, Lieut. Abbot and twenty 
men take gas test, each driver trying out his Tissot 
in addition to the ordinary mask. Band concert in 
P.M. and ball game after supper. 

April 13. Slight change in sanitary service of the 
sector. Triage moved from Benamenil to Ambulance 
6/7, Chenevieres. Two Boche avions added a little 
excitement to the day's doings. 

April 14. Excellent dinner today for the Section, 
celebrating the entrance of U. S. into the war. Field 
day of 169 R. I. in P.M. 

April 15. Lieut. Jamon, Lieut. Abbot, Shively 
and Lyman go to Baccarat in A.M. and get some 
commissary supplies. American mail arrives. 

April 16. Victrola set up and greatly enjoyed. 



230 S. S. U. 585 

April 18. No. 208 is towed to Nancy today. 

April 19. American and French Lieuts. of S. S. U. 
534 look over cantonment and postes today. Larsen 
and Corp. Lundgren go to Nancy with permis rouge 
for car No. 208. Word comes that Section is to move 
to Baccarat. 

April 20. Corp. Lundgren and Marcellus return 
with No. 208. 

April 21. Cars at Bcnamenil and Ogeviller are 
relieved by cars from S. S. U. 534. Atelier and most 
of section baggage packed in cars. Two Americans 
from S. S. U. 534 eat with us today. 

April 22. Section leaves St. Clement (in rain as 
usual) — moves to Baccarat, where cars are parked 
near Hospital Mixte. Wasilik and Larkin come 
directly from Moyen. Voorhees stays in St. Clement, 
waiting for Medecin Divisionnaire. In afternoon cars 
are moved to Rue de Glonville, where kitchen is set up. 
Most of men are quartered in a barn, others through 
Rouger's efforts secure rooms near by. 

April 23. Order comes to move, so Section leaves 
for Bazien — small village between Baccarat and 
Rambervillcr. Men not enthusiastic over the move — 
strike — but esprit de corps returns after talks by 
Lieut. Abbot and Sgt. Peters. Men quartered in big 
new barn. Good bureau. Victrola is set up. 

April 24. D. C. Peters and Emery go to Baccarat 
for supplies. Men permitted to secure rooms in 
town. Order comes through French renewing per- 
missions. 

April 25. Voorhees, Russell and Rouger leave on 
permission. 



SECTION LOG 231 

April 26. Big requisition is sent in to complete 
standard equipment of tools, spare parts and sup- 
plies. Twelve men given passes to Baccarat or 
Ramberviller this P.M. Must be back at eight ! 

April 27. Clifford works on mess fund statements. 

April 28. Ten men are sick with grippe. In after- 
noon "Bill" Flint is taken to French H. O. E. at 
Baccarat. 

April 29. More men are sick this A.M. 

April 30. Flint returns from hospital. 

May 2. Several men lose their rooms for returning 
late after passes or missing roll call, and Van Doren 
loses car and it is assigned to Perkins. "Van" is 
arrested by gendarme and M. P. for having camp in 
woods. Later taken to Baccarat, where he spends 
night in guardhouse. 

May 3. Orders to leave. Section packs up in 
A.M. "Van" returns to Section just before it leaves 
Bazien at 1.45 p.m. Googins' car goes bad at Nos- 
soncourt — new car has to be sent from Nancy. 
First real American mail for long time. Section 
spends night at Charmes. 

May 4. This afternoon bunch goes swimming in 
the Moselle. Sgt. Hubbard, Green, Googins, Wasilik 
and W^asem with their cars leave by train with the 
Division. 

May 5. Up at 3 a.m. and off at four. Lieut. 
Abbot joins Section at Neufchateau. Stop at noon 
at Chaumont and reach Troj^es for supper. While 
entering town Tremaine's car hits little boy, seriously 
injuring him. 

May 6. Off at 8.45 — delay due to accident. 



232 S. S. U. 585 

Lunch at Nogent-sur-Seine. Stop for night at 
Chauconin, near Meaux. Raining hard. 

May 7. Off before eight — reach Beauvais for 
lunch. Get supplies at Pare A Echelon Americain. 
Arrive at Aumale in afternoon. Sgt. Hubbard and 
four men with cars are there. Quarters in a school 
building. 

May 8. Men work on cars. Crane is reduced to 
Private. Section packs up again this evening ready 
for start. 

May 9. Up at 2.15— off at four. Reach Pic- 
quigny on the Somme, where cars are parked on 
square. Lots of British troops here. Section as- 
signed quarters in small barn — several men set up 
pup tents. Fine English canteen. 

May 10. The 169th band has demonstration this 
evening. 

May 11-12. Very little work — a call or two a day. 
The twelfth is Mother's Day and everyone writes 
letter to mother. French Artillery Colonel visits 
Section in its "garden." 

May 13. "Dave" is "busted." 

May 14. Lieut. "Bill" Bingham inspects Section. 

May 15. Lieut. Abbot to Beauvais for pay. 
"Art" Lewis goes too, and Weber, who takes 
"Pinard" and "Grenade" to turn them over to girls 
in the Smith Unit. Everyone sorry to lose pups. 
Big mail today — the first for long time. Avions over 
this evening and drop several bombs. Our ambu- 
lances carry blesses to hospital — one little boy and 
a girl die on the way. 

May 16. Shively appointed section correspondent 



SECTION LOG 233 

for the official weekly publication of the U. S. A. 
A. S. with the French Army, The Radiator. The 
bunch go swimming in the Sonime. 

May 17. Corp. Lundgren and four men with their 
cars are sent to Hornoy on D. S. Section moves to 
outskirts of town. Quarters in open factory shed. 
Must carry water from town. Brichard leaves 
Section. 

May 18. Emery went on permission last evening. 
Order comes for Van Doren to report to Head- 
quarters. Leaves this evening with Sgt. Hubbard 
and Weber, who are granted leaves. Bates appointed 
Mess Sergeant. 

May 19. Rouger, Russell and Voorhees returned 
from permission during the night. Had been away 
twenty-three days. From Ramberviller in box cars. 

May 20. Corp. Lundgren and the four men return 
from Hornoy. Section leaves Picquigny about 7 
a.m and passing very close to Amiens, goes to 
Esquennoy (Oise). Stationed in an old park and 
most of men sleep in shelter tents in the woods. Lots 
of avions tonight. 

May 21. Tobacco from American Red Cross ar- 
rives. Cunningham, Stevens and Weber appointed 
Privates, 1st Class. 

Ma}' 23. Pvt. Robert S. Wylie joins Section from 
Base Camp. 

May 25. Green's car is run into by a truck near 
Beauvais, but not badly damaged. Frenchman is 
assigned to Section — replacing Brichard. 

May 26. Eight ambulances called out this A.M. 
to evacuate bunch of malades to Crevecoeur. 



234 S. S. U. 585 

May 27. Mess Sgt. Bates goes to Beauvais with 
Shively for provisions. Heavy firing all evening and 
Boche avions come over many times. 

May 28. Lieut. Jamon goes on permission. Learn 
of big German offensive. 

May 29. Sgt, Peters leaves for Paris on way to 
Auto School at Meaux. Preparations for a move 
in the A.M. Twelve cars are sent out this evening 
to get malades. Borden's car is smashed up on way 
back from Crevecoeur. Beecher out to repair it. 
Division to move tomorrow. 

May 30. Leave Esquennoy about 8 a.m. Lewis 
smashes radiator. Lunch at Clermont. Stop for 
couple of hours at Compiegne. Get supplies from 
Red Cross. Spend night at Le Meux. Division 
ordered to hold Germans on right bank of the Oise. 

May 31. Up before three and off at four for town 
of Rethondes, between Compiegne and Soissons. 
Roads filled with fugitives. Lieut, goes to Beauvais 
for ambulance to replace Borden's. Cars in park at 
Old Ladies' Home. Shortly after noon, orders come 
for Section to leave at once. Division arrived too late 
to check Boches. Moves about 6 p.m. Butler waits 
for Lieut, and Beecher, who arrive from Beauvais at 
10 p.m. Section goes to Vez via Croix-St.-Ouen. 
Parks beside road for night. Avions, flares and dis- 
concerting rumors. Voorhees missing. 

June 1. Lieut, to Villers-Cotterets, where Division 
is located. Section ordered to V. C. Park cars in 
square in front of chateau. Most of cars sent out at 
once. Many of them to Dampleux, where poste is 
established. Boches very near V. C. Most of 



SECTION LOG 235 

blesses are evacuated to Betz. Cars busy all day and 
far into night. Ready for "get away." Great ex- 
citement in town — soldiers looting stores. No civil- 
ians left. Situation critical. 

June 2. Less work today. Many shells sent into 
town — near railroad. Couple of French ambulances 
to work with Section. Move quarters to bathhouse. 
Get lots of food — peas, beans, prunes, etc., in de- 
serted hospital storehouse. Lots of shells and avions 
tonight. Lieut. 's car backed into tree — not badly 
hurt. 

June 3. Boches shell Dampleux very hard this 
A.M. Kirby has close escape as shell lands while 
ambulance is being loaded. Several cars go out under 
heavy fire. Cars busy all morning evacuating Dam- 
pleux, Oigny, Maison Forestiere and Oigny quarry. 
Poste established at Fleury. Boche attacked this 
A.M. but were driven back by the 128th — doing great 
work. Five Fords from Section 577 stationed here 
for evacuation work. Little girl found wounded 
brought in by Houlihan and Butler. 

June 4. More quiet today, though bunch of shells 
fall near chateau. D. C. Peters, "Bal" and INIar- 
cellus go to Beauvais with Borden's and Ballantyne's 
cars. Bring back new car. Also bring back Sgt. 
Hubbard and Weber from permission. 

June 5. Lieut. Jamon returned from permission 
last night. This evening shell explodes under 210 
(Wylie's car) stationed at Dampleux and car is 
shattered. Luckily Wylie was absent. Frenchman 
badly wounded. 

June 6. Road from Dampleux to quarry is badly 



236 S. S. U. 585 

shelled — so all cars are sent direct from V, C. to 
Oigny and the quarry. Several wounded when shells 
fall near chateau this P.M. One shell landed in court 
and killed French ambulance driver. Mechanics tow 
remains of Wylie's car to V. C. Men sleep in cellar — 
bakery tonight. "Cockroaches big as rats." 

June 7. Lieut. Abbot, with Beecher and Butler, 
goes to Paris this P.M. to get new car. At Head- 
quarters get supplies and copies of Radiator but no 
car. Thence to Colomniers to Echelon Americain but 
no car there, so return to V. C. by way of Meaux, 
where they see Sgt. Peters. Perkins taken sick to 
H. O. E., Betz, this A. M. 

June 8. Town badly shelled this afternoon. Shell 
strikes chateau. Proal visits Section. 

June 9. Good sing tonight. Emery returns from 
permission. Quiet day. Petit Parisien for today 
shows picture and account of little girl brought in 
wounded from Oigny quarry. 

June 10. At 6.45 this evening shell lands in court 
near kitchen. Bates, who is preparing to go to poste, 
is very seriously wounded by shell fragments. Sev- 
eral Frenchmen killed by same shell. Bates operated 
on at Ambulance 226 this evening. Pretty bad shape. 
Borden gets very small piece of eclat in wrist. Bates' 
car ruined and Lewis' and Borden's damaged. Every- 
body sleeps in cave tonight. 

June 11. Section "alerted" about 2.30 a.m. as 
Boche attack is supposed to be starting, but nothing 
results. Bates moved with Ambulance 226 to Bour- 
sonne during afternoon. Receives Croix de Guerre, 



SECTION LOG 237 

cited by order of the 128th Division. Section moves 
to Boursonne. 

June 12. Several cars at postes are relieved dur- 
ing night after making trips. Have great job find- 
ing Boursonne. Boche and French attack this A.M. 
Cars busy today. Maison Forestiere poste is regula- 
trice for both Fleury postes and Dampleux. 

June 13. Bates is taken to Senlis this morning 
and put on hospital train for Paris. 

June 14. Beech and "Gil" go to Villers and tow 
in Bates' car. Butler goes with Lieut, to French 
pare at Le Val. Find eight mail sacks for S. S. U. 
585. Fellows mighty glad to get letters. Lots of 
gas at Dampleux these days (or nights). 

June 15. American and French Lieuts. of S. S. U. 
577 at Boursonne this P.M. 

June 16. Lieut, has letter from Perkins, who is at 
Hospital 49, Orleans. Late in P.M. Lieut. Johnstone 
(Johnny) visits Section. Looks fine. 

June 17. Learn that Jamon has been promoted to 
First Lieut. Larrabee is taken sick to Ambulance 
5/53 at Chateau Boursonne. 

June 18. Section takes gas test. Marcellus is sent 
to H. O. E,, Betz. Has the "gale." Great discussion 
in quarters this evening over our cuisine. 

June 20. Lieut. Jamon wearing two galons today. 

June 22. Larkin leaves on permission this A.M. 
Under date of June 18, General Segonne cites "a 
Vordre de la Division" the S. S. U. 585 — also Lieut. 
Abbot, Marechal des Logis Rouger, Corp. Lundgren, 
Bates, Larrabee, Green and Stevens, and cites "a 



238 S. S. U. 585 

Vordre du Regiment" Ballantyne, Bowerman, Larkin, 
Russell, Potter and Wasilik. 

June 23. Googins leaves on permission this A.M. 
and Larrabee returns from Ambulance 5/53. Dam- 
pleux poste is moved to Maison F this A.M. because 
of bombing and shelling of town. Stationery received 
from Knights of Columbus. 

June 24. Houlihan leaves on permission. 

June 26. New poste established today at Croix 
de Vouty. One car there — two cars are to be at 
lower Fleury poste hereafter to relieve La Grande 
Ramee and Croix de Vouty. 

June 27. This P.M. men in S. S. U. and G. B. D. 
are decorated with Croix de Guerre by the Medecin 
Divisionnaire. This occasion followed by big party. 
Bunch pretty happy. "Deak" Lyman fractured 
ankle. Neil Lynch rejoins Section from S. S. U. 646. 

June 28. Marcellus returns from hospital at Creil. 
"Lazarus" returns from permission. Lyman is taken 
to Ambulance 5/11, Betz. 

June 29. "Johnny" visits Section. 

July 3. Most of men at quarters attend funeral 
of American aviator who died in Ambulance 226 
during night. 

July 4. Four representatives of S. S. U. 585 in- 
vited to meet General Niessel (11th Army Corps) and 
the Director of the Service de Sante at reception this 
A.M. S. S. U. 501 and 627 there also. Good dinner 
for the Section at noon. Big party at five when 
General Niessel and staff come to meet S. S. U. 585 
and the officers of the hospitals. Later the bran- 



SECTION LOG 239 

cardiers come in to join the fun. Section "alerted" 
all day, but nothing doing. 

July 8. Larkin, Googins and Houlihan return 
from permission this P.M. 

July 9. Russell and Potter suffering and being 
treated for gas received at Fleury poste. Last night 
this poste was moved to the quarry in the town. 

July 10. Larsen, Larrabee and Wasilik leave on 
permission this A.M. 

July 11. Perkins returns from Casual Camp where 
he was sent after leaving hospital. New poste is 
moved further ahead to Carrefour des Grandes 
Charmes, for French have advanced north of Corey. 

July 12. Harper is sent to Cooking School, Base 
Camp. 

July 14. Stevens is taken to Ambulance 5/11, 
Betz, this P.M. sick from gas. Cigars and cham- 
pagne today "on" the French Army. French ambu- 
lances left during night. 

July 15. Much gas in Fleury and Ramee last 
night. Many blesses and gazes from Corey, where 
there is awful fighting. Cars from Maison For- 
estiere help with Fleury evacuation. 

July 16. Fleury is filled with blesses and gazes 
today. Section cars are moving continually day and 
night. Croix de Vouty poste abandoned. S. S. U. 
553 helps evacuate from Boursonne to Betz — Pack- 
ard truck also. 

July 17. Postes at Maison Forestiere and Oigny 
abandoned. "Johnny's" section takes over Croix de 
Corey poste. Cars still busy — running almost con- 
tinuously. Division's losses heavy. 



240 S. S. U. 585 

July 18. All last evening troops were moving up. 
At 2 a.m. six cars under Corp. Lundgren go up to 
Fleurj. French attack at 4.30. All cars are work- 
ing — carrying couches from the Grand Ramee and 
Corey. "Petits blesses" are evacuated from Fleury 
in busses, taxis, camions and cars of S. S. U. 539 and 
646. Former section has cars at Corey — S. S. U. 
646 loans us ten ambulances. All blesses are out 
before evening. Franco-American offensive from 
Fontenoy to Chateau-Thierry is on. Many German 
prisoners taken. 

July 19. Poste established at Louatre this A.M. — 
some cars evacuate from Violaine — and relay poste 
is advanced to Corey. S. S. U. 646 cars still work- 
ing with us. Division goes in reserve this P.M. and 
only two cars are left out tonight at Croix de Corey. 

July 20. Section up at five, packs and sets out 
for Pierrefonds. Barrack bags left behind — Russell 
stays with them. At Pierrefonds, ambulances start 
work evacuating wounded Americans from hospital 
to Crepy. 

July 21. Lieut. Abbot takes eight cars to Coeuvres 
this A.M. to evacuate from American front. Cars 
go up to Chaudun poste and few go to more advanced 
one. Very hot there. In returning with load of 
blesses shell lands near "Shive's" ear, wounding him 
in both legs and left arm, still he drives car back to 
poste at Chaudun. Great spirit. Lieut. Abbot gets 
small piece of eclat in knee but stays out with cars. 
Packard brings up barrack bags and Lewis' car. 
"Shive" is evacuated. 

July 22. Lieut. Abbot returns from Chaudun and 



SECTION LOG 241 

has his knee looked after. Lieut. Jamon goes to 
D. S. A. for orders regarding Section. Then to 
Coeuvres and orders all our cars back to Pierrefonds. 
Many American wounded. 

July 23. Larsen, Larrabee and Wasilik return 
from permission this afternoon. Order comes to move 
back to our Division. Everybody delighted. Section 
goes by way of Compiegne to Le Fayel where G. B. D. 
of the 128th is located. Girls' Ambulance Section 
also in village. 

July 24. Kitchen, atelier and bureau are installed 
near the cars and quarters. 

July 25. Flint and Potter leave on permission. 
Lieut. Abbot and Marcellus to Paris — see Bates and 
Shively. Lieut. Jamon on permission. 

July 26. Derek Peters taken to Ambulance 16/9, 
Mony. Very sick. 

July 27. Bradley, Bowerman and Legeret leave 
for permission. Green, Larkin, Googins and Houli- 
han put on quarters, for party last evening. Com- 
plaint is made about our kitchen. 

July 29. Section packs up and leaves immediately 
after lunch. Pass by Rivecourt — to Taillefontaine, 
near which town the Section is quartered at the 
Ferme Thumet. Good quarters and a dining-room. 

July 30. Order comes to leave in A.M. 

July 31. Nearly every man in Section is driving 
car when we move to Couloisy, where we are to be 
quartered. S. S. U. 577 is located in same village. 
Division is taking over sector opposite Vic-sur-Aisne. 
Dirty cantonment is cleaned up. Wasem sent out to 
poste this P.M. Bunch swim in the Aisne. 



242 S. S. U. 585 

August 1. Lieut, and Medecin Divisionnaire ar- 
range for postes this A.M. Cars are placed this 
afternoon. One at St. Pierre-les-Bitry with 169th, 
two at Cote 120 with 168th, and one at St. Chris- 
tophe-a-Berry with 167th. Division gets great 
write-up in Paris papers today. 

August 2. Maj. Hall inspects Section. Corp. 
Lundgren and Wasilik take two doctors to Catenoy — 
then go to Pare looking for mail ; don't find it. Hub- 
bard wearies of his duties as Sergeant, but doesn't 
resign. French capture Soissons. Great ! 

August 4. Several sacks of letters arrive — first 
mail in nearly three weeks. New poste is established 
on top of hill near Berny — called Picardie. 

August 6, 7. Lieut. Jamon and "Lazarus" return 
from permission on the seventh. Sound box for Vic- 
trola arrives. Now for some music ! 

August 8. Bradley and Potter return from per- 
mission. 

August 9. Lynch and Tremaine leave on permis- 
sion. S. S. U. 577 leaves Couloisy for Hautefon- 
taine. 

August 10. "Bowy" and Flint return from per- 
mission. 

August 11. At 8.15 this A.M. the Medecin Divi- 
sionnaire decorates with Croix de Guerre "a Vordre 
de la Division" Lieut. Jamon, Bradley, Campbell, 
Cunningham and Weber. Shively and Tremaine re- 
ceive similar citations in absentia. 

August 12. Richard leaves on permission. Sgt. 
Peters returns from Officers' School — Lieut. John- 
stone brings him to Couloisy. 



SECTION LOG 243 

August 13. Several cars evacuate Ambulance 
5/53 this morning. Section — also G. B. D. — moves 
to Jaulzy. Evacuations hereafter are to Hautefon- 
taine and Mortefontaine instead of to Pierrefonds. 
Good cantonment. All cars under cover, fine recrea- 
tion-room, dining-rooms, bureau and "caves." 

August 14. Legeret is called away by mother's 
death. Bunch of cavalry moves into the ferme with 
us. G. B. D. barber is here today. Marcellus returns 
from hospital. This evening G. B. D. officers are over 
and give a party — champagne and music. 'Tis the 
postponed "Bastile Day" party. Section picture 
taken later. 

August 16. Harper returns from Cooking School 
this afternoon. Lieut. Johnstone brings him up — 
also brings section pay for July. Field Service car 
received from Pare is assigned to Perkins. 

August 17. Several cars sent out to G. B. D. 
triage at Vache Noire this A.M. New 167th poste 
is at Berry. Big coup de main along our sector this 
A.M. and cars busy all day. Evacuate to Villers- 
C. — long ride. Postes established at Hautebraye 
Ferme and some cars go almost to Autreches. 

August 18. Jaulzy heavily shelled during night. 
Fighting continues today and cars are moving this 
P.M. Section moves to Vache Noire — quarters at 
Hotel de la Gare. Bowerman and Green evacuated 
to Villers-Cotterets. Have the grippe. 

August 19. Fourteen cars from S. S. U. 575, four 
English ambulances and four trucks come to aid in 
evacuations. Postes are advanced today. New staff 
car driver to replace Legeret arrives. Butler felled 



244 S. S. U. 585 

telegraph pole near Coeuvres last night — mechanics 
fix up car this A.M. 

August 20. Big attack today along broad front. 
One hundred aeroplanes take part. Hautebraye is 
G. B. D. poste and used as relay for cars which go up 
to Morsain and beyond. Many prisoners. Losses 
not heavy. 

August 21. Section moves to St. Christophe today 
and G. B. D. to Hautebraye. Cantonment is a ruined 
old house and yard. 

August 22. Very few blesses today. Germans 
have retreated several kilometres. Postes are moved 
from Ouilly and Berlinval to Vezaponin and beyond. 
Crane loses 500 frs. 

August 23. Cars make many evacuations from 
167th and 168th postes near Bagneux today and to- 
night. Googins' car returned to Section, replacing 
Field Service ambulance. 

August 24. Cars and Section are relieved at 5 
a.m. Division leaves line. Small tanks are passing 
St. Christophe all morning. Section moves to Vez 
this evening. Cars parked under enormous shed. 

August 25. D. C. Peters and Stevens return from 
hospital this afternoon. 

August 26. Richard returns from permission. 
Forbidden to drink water at Vez. 

August 27. Lynch and Tremaine return from per- 
mission. 

August 28. Crane and Wylie leave for Aix this 
A.M. Lieut. Abbot goes to Pare, where he finds 
Lyman looking for Section. "Deak" brings new 
stock of stories from Orleans. 



SECTION LOG 245 

August 30. Rouger leaves on permission this A.M. 

September 1. Capt. Anderson from Pare G. 
Echelon and Capt. Galetti from Hqs. visit Section 
this A.M. Bunch of cars are washed in afternoon. 

September 2. Lieut. Abbot and Corp. Lundgren 
go to U. S. Commissary at Vic-sur-Aisne for supplies. 
No tobacco. Fine sing this evening. 

September 3. Butler and Perkins leave on permis- 
sion. 

September 4. Section moves out after lunch and 
S. S. U. 645 takes cantonment. Section passes 
through Fleury, Longpont and Chaudun. No can- 
tonment at Visigneux and Section moves again after 
supper to Equiry. Motorcycle broken down at 
Vierzy and brought in by mecs. 

September 5. Section moves to Soissons in P.M. 
and cleans out a good cantonment in the Hospice. 

September 9. Section moves from Soissons to 
Crouy with G. B. D. after supper. Convoy stuck for 
three hours on bridge and arrives about midnight. 

September 9. Herculean efforts succeed in making 
a good cantonment out of a pile of debris. Truck 
returns to Soissons for baggage and men left behind. 

September 10. Nasty, rainy weather. A "coitp de 
main" during the night keeps the men on duty busy. 
Crane and Wylie return from "perm" this A.M. Big 
U. S. mail cheers up Section. Lieut. Abbot and Sgt. 
Peters go to Vic-sur-Aisne to get some commissary 
supplies and return by way of Pont Archer which is 
now our H. O. E. for blesses. Red Cross brings sup- 
plies that are much appreciated. 

September 11. Rainy night. Larrabee's and 



246 S. S, U. 585 

Larsen's cars have close call at Pont Rouge. Crouy 
shelled during night also. Bowerman and Green ap- 
pear in A.M., having walked from Vierzy. 

September 12. Vauveny cars moved down to regi- 
mental poste — 168th — last night. Wheel on 623 
broken by eclat at Pont Rouge and superstructure 
of 614 damaged by shell at Crouy during night. 

September 14. Attack this A.M. at 5.30 gives lot 
of work for Section. French ambulances arrive at 
noon to do the evacuations from Crouy to Pont 
Archer. 

September 15. Lieut. Warren of 577 gets pay for 
585. Advanced poste at Nanteuil-la-Fosse. Quiet 
P.M. 

September 16. Small attack early this A.M. Lot 
of Boche artillery action during day. Crouy shelled 
in the evening, one shell falling on the G. B. D. can- 
tonment, fortunately wounding one man only. 

September 17. Attack in P.M. keeps cars busy 
during night. Three cars sent out to new poste at 
Quincy. 

September 18. S. S. A. 14 comes to look over 
postes. Butler and Perkins return from permission 
in P.M. 

September 19. Section glad to leave Crouy for 
Soissons, where we spend night in Hospice. 

September 20. Off in the morning through Vic- 
sur-Aisne, Compiegne, and stop for lunch at Cler- 
mont. Spend night in Dury, near Amiens. 

September 21. Late start in A.M. as new wheel 
has to be put on Wasem's car and Houlihan's is 
smashed up while being towed. Through Amiens, 



SECTION LOG 247 

Doullens, St. Omer and during evening reach Bour- 
bourg, where we spend night. 

September 22. Short trip to Le Casino — right on 
the sand dunes along the coast. "Clif" breaks arm 
in cranking car and is taken to hospital near Dun- 
kerque. 

September 23. Men busy working on cars today. 
Lyman put in charge of gasoline. Sgt. Hubbard, 
Beecher, Lewis and Green leave on permission. 

September 25. Section received orders to be ready 
to move during night — so pack again. 

September 26. Early start — pass through Dun- 
kerque and Bergues to Rexpoede. Poor cantonment. 
First evacuations from Belgium. 

September 27. Off again — great job getting 
Packard out — to Beveren, Belgium. Quarters in 
school. Plenty of chocolate and cigars here. Prices 
high. Barrack bags are stored. 

September 28. Everybody up at three and off in 
dark. Some cars went ahead with Corp. Lundgren. 
To Oostvleteren, where we install again — good can- 
tonment. Belgians attack this A.M. Weber's car 
smashed up while on trip after gas. Guard on to- 
night. Many Boche prisoners taken by Belgians. 

September 29. Forward again — this time over 
the most desolate country and frightful roads to 
Langemarck, taken yesterday from the Boches. Not 
a sign of a tree or house. Luckily we get good ( .'') 
abri. Truck and kitchen trailer left near Woestern. 
Fix up road so cars can pass. 

September 30. Get well installed in our abri — 
then have to pack up again. Rain and mud. Truck 



248 S. S. U. 585 

and trailer came up this morning. Cars can't work 
on such roads, and several are stuck and drivers 
missing. 

October 1. After a "comfortable-as-possible" 
night, up for the move. Cooks keep us waiting couple 
of hours for breakfast. Cars start as they can get 
going and 'tis a delightful ride to Wifwege ! Several 
cars stuck in mud, but all finally arrive. Big day's 
job to move five miles. Remains of a house make 
good quarters. Avions drop ravitaillement. 

October 2. Most of cars are now at poste or with 
G. B. D. Truck and kitchen arrive this P.M. Sgt. 
Dumraese drives up new ambulance from Pare B. 
this P.M. To work with Section for few days. Flint 
has grippe and is evacuated from hospital where he 
left load of blesses. His car is towed to pare — out 
of commission. "Hap's" car also on bum. 

October 3. Marcellus tows Lieut. Jamon's car 
back to Section. Car and driver had been missing for 
two days. Wylie brings back big mail for Section. 
Avions drop bombs tonight. 

October 4. This afternoon and evening canton- 
ment is bombarded heavily. 

October 5. Crane and Harper "busted" and Cun- 
ningham and Perkins are appointed section cooks. 

October 6. Artillerymen take over our canton- 
ment this morning and after lunch Section moves to 
spot near crossroads. Very poor camp but manage 
to fix it up a bit. Place is heavily shelled late in 
afternoon and "Jimmy" Weber is struck in left arm 
with piece of eclat. Slight wound but he is evacuated 
to Dunkirk. 



SECTION LOG 249 

October 7. Men busy making abri today. Bureau 
is installed in big tent. Great interest over news that 
Central Powers have asked for an armistice. Beecher 
back from "perm" this P.M. Several men sleep in 
pill boxes near by. 

October 8. Kirby Green back from Aix this A.M. 
Crane taken to H. O. E., Oostvleteren, this P.M. — 
has an ulcerated tooth. Cunningham and Perkins 
doing fine work in kitchen — big change. 

October 9. Officers from Pare B visit Section. 
Now have entire house, as the French have moved 
out. Makes good quarters. Tent is taken d,own and 
returned to Ambulance 5/53 this P.M. Prepare to 
move. 

Optober 10. Crane returns from H. O. E., Har- 
inghe, is sent to Hqs. U. S. A. S. Paris, for dental 
treatment. Soon after midnight shell lands near 
Campbell's car at Staden. 

October 11. Lewis returns from "perm." Sgt. 
Dumraese returns to Pare B. Section moves camp 
again — this time near G. B. D., where tent is erected 
and outdoor kitchen rigged up. 

October 12. Sgt. Peters receives orders to report 
to Hqs. U. S. A. S. for physical exam and leaves 
early in P.M. Campbell with him en route for Aix- 
les-Bains on "perm." English section arrives to 
work with the division replacing ours. Big shell lands 
near 169th poste. Many casualties. 

October 13. Box of chocolate and cigars received 
from Knights of Columbus, greatly appreciated. 
Corp. Lundgren in charge of Section since Sgt. 



250 S. S. U. 585 

Peters left. Section postes taken over this after- 
noon by the S. S. A. 16, Division now in reserve. 

October 14. Very heavy and intense barrage 
starts this morning at 5.30. Big attack. Lynch ap- 
pointed Mess Sergeant. Five cars from 509 and ten 
from 513 arrive to help in evacuation of blesses from 
Wifwege. Many trips for cars today. 

October 15. Little work today — blesses being 
evacuated by train from West Roosbeke station. 
Division starts forward tonight. One car with each 
regiment. 

October 16. Section and G. B. D. move late this 
morning to Staden, where fair cantonment is secured. 
Report that French cavalry is far ahead pursuing 
Boches. Many Belgian refugees, just liberated, 
celebrate in town. 

October 17. Section moves out in P.M. and camps 
for the night in a farm at Hooglede. Shively and 
Flint arrive just as Section is leaving Staden. Potter 
and Butler go to Ypres for gasoline and Lynch and 
Houlihan to Beveren. Farmhouse is suspected of 
being mined and is forbidden, but outbuildings serve 
to house everybody. 

October 18. Avions come over during night in 
spite of drizzle and drop torpedoes in our courtyard. 
Section has to make early start. Four cars leave 
about seven with Lieut. Jamon and the rest half an 
hour later. Arrive at Coolscamp about 10.30 and 
find a good cantonment with the G. B. D. Many 
civilians in town. Lynch arrives with 204 just after 
lunch, with Sgts. Peters and Hubbard. 

October 19. Sgt. Hubbard relieves Lyman as 



SECTION LOG 251 

comptroller of "essence." Section leaves Coolscamp 
about noon — for Iseghem, large town with many 
civilians. Secure quarters in chapel of a convent. 
G. B. D. in same building. Good mail arrives. Learn 
that Bates was transferred from Section October 16. 
"Deak" preaches the sermon today. 

October 20. Rear wheels of Packard taken to 
French Pare Mardick for new tires. Potter sent to 
Paris for dental treatment. Lieut, brings back a 
new staff car from Pare B. 

October 21. Shipment of American helmets ar- 
rives today. Mock trial this P.M. 

October 22. Senna leaves on "perm." Soine good 
boxing matches staged this P.M. Lyman vs. Cun- 
ningham — Peters vs. Larkin — Bowerman vs. Larsen. 
167th going into lines tonight. 

October 23. Lieut. Roberts of Pare B, which is 
now at Roulers, brings section pay. Lieuts. Abbot 
and Jamon and Pvts. Borden and Lewis receive Croix 
de Guerre — citations at the order of the Division — 
and are decorated this A.M. 

October 24. Corp. Lundgren and Harper leave 
for Aix this afternoon. Go to Beveren with Packard, 
which is to bring up section baggage. Marcellus, 
Lynch and Rouger form the crew. Section moves 
again. Dark when we leave for Emelghem about a 
mile away across the river. Sgt. Peters loses convoy 
and car is stuck in ditch — stays there all night. 
Section gets comfortable quarters in convent school. 

October 25. Truck brings baggage — the "Vic" is 
very welcome and have a good concert this evening. 

October 26. Cunningham and Stevens leave on 



252 S. S. U. 585 

"perm" this afternoon. Potter back from Paris. 
Houlihan sent to Hqs. U. S. A. S. this P.M. for 
dental treatment. Coupons for Christmas packages 
arrive — rather late ! First individual metal first-aid 
packets arrive. 

October 27. Section moves to Oostroosbeke this 
A.M. Quarters in cafe on corner of Main Street. 
Shively is helping Perkins in kitchen. 

October 28. Many cars are sent out but little 
doing. Americans coming in. 

October 29. Section leaves this noon for Vive-St.- 
Bavon. Good quarters in factory. Bradley helping 
in kitchen. 

October 30. Boches drop in bunch of shells and 
some gas last evening and Section tries out concrete 
cave. Lewis sent to Hqs. U. S. A. A. S. this A.M. 
Gloves and leather jerkins arrive. 

October 31. Big attack by Division this A.M. 
Americans on each side. Six of 509's ambulances are 
at 5/53 to evacuate couches to Iseghem. Most cars 
busy all day. Campbell returns from permission. 

November 1. Many cars out this A.M. Perkins 
is sent to Hqs. for dental treatment. 

November 2. Cars packed and Section moves to 
Nokere — via Waereghem. Two second-story rooms 
for quarters. Civilians in town starving. 

November 3. Division coming out of lines this 
afternoon — has pushed Germans across the Scheldt. 
Shell lands near Wasilik's car at Audenarde — 
Medecin Divisionnaire slightly wounded. 

November 4. Section moves to Vive-St.-Eloi this 



SECTION LOG 253 

noon, poor cantonment near canal. One car at each 
Regt. poste and one at G. B. D, Division on reserve. 

November 5. Lieut. Jamon leaves on permission. 

November 6. Lieut. Cogswell of 629 pays visit to 
Lieut. Abbot. 

November 7. Considerable excitement over rumor 
that hostilities will be suspended tonight. 

November 8. Lynch returns from special leave — 
brings back provisions from Bruges and Ostend. 
Promotion of Russell and Voorhees to grade of Pri- 
vates, 1st Class. Senna returns from permission. 
Germany given until next Monday to accept Allied 
terms for armistice. 

November 9. Bunch goes to Waereghem for hot 
shower this afternoon. Flint sick with grippe, 
evacuated this afternoon, and Lieut. Abbot and Mar- 
cellus go to Pare and bring back Clifford, Perkins 
and Weber, found at Iseghem. "Clif" and "Jimmy" 
have been to Nice — recuperating! 

November 10. Big dinner today. This evening 
about ten we hear that the armistice has been signed 
and bunch goes into "town" to celebrate. With the 
French, drink a toast to "La Paix" — sing "La Mar- 
seillaise" and "The Star-Spangled Banner." Song 
fest in the cafe and on the streets. Everybody 
happy. 

November 11. Lewis returns from Hqs. Senna 
goes to French Pare at Iseghem to work on Lieut. 
Jamon's car. Ray Sjostrom visits Section. Section 
discusses "Section Book." Shively appointed chair- 
man of board of editors. 



254 S. S. U. 585 

November 12. Bunch goes to division show and 
concert at Waereghem. 

November 13. Football game this afternoon. Life 
at Vive-St.-Eloi very dull. 

November 14. Corp. Lundgren returns from 
"perm" this A.M. 

November 15. Cunningham and Stevens return 
from permission this A.M., and Borden, Shively and 
Wasem leave for Aix. 167th holds parade, concert 
and celebration this evening. 

November 16. Four ambulances on duty, begin- 
ning this noon, at VII Corps d'Armee Ambulance at 
Wackem. Corp. Lundgren in charge. 

November 17. Ambulances return from D. S. — 
hospital has moved ahead. Harper returns from 
"seven days' leave" at Aix — has only been away 
twenty-four days ! Potter starts work in kitchen. 

November 18. Perkins sent to Paris again to have 
teeth looked after. Russell and Voorhees leave for 
Aix. Larrj^bee promoted to Private, 1st Class, 
November 14, 1918. Snows some today ; first fall. 

November 19. Lieut. Abbot and Sgt. Peters leave 
at eight this A.M. for Lille to meet Medecin Division- 
naire, who is returning from permission. Don't find 
him. Googins gets a Rugby football. 

November 20. Pvt. Houlihan returns from Base 
Camp after dental treatment. 

November 21. Lynch and Rouger to Bruges to 
get supplies for Thanksgiving dinner. 

November 22. Sgt. Peters ordered to report to 
Hqs. U. S. A. A. S. with equipment and records. 
Three English soldiers returning from imprisonment 



SECTION LOG 255 

behind German lines spend night with Section. Men 
emaciated, and tell interesting stories of life with the 
Boches. 

November 23. Sgt. Peters leaves for Roulers, en 
route to Paris to receive commission. Orders to leave 
tomorrow. 

November 24. Four cars leave at 8.30 to make 
"campement" for Service de Sante. Division is mov- 
ing east. Section leaves Vive-St.-Eloi (with no 
regrets) after lunch. Section paid off and pay books 
distributed this evening at Bevere, a suburb of 
Audenarde, where Section spends night. 

November 25. Four cars leave this noon for de- 
tached service with Corps d'Armee, near Brussels, 
but due to blocked roads and pannes they get only to 
Oultre. Section forced to make detour in getting to 
Oultre, near Ninove. Reaches cantonment after 
dark. Light supper in cafe. Harper takes bath in 
cesspool. 

November 26. Four cars leave for Corps d'Armee 
S. of S. at 6 a.m. Section sets out at 2 p.m. and 
reaches Osseghem, a suburb of Brussels, at five. Fine 
cantonment, at factory of Delhaize Freres et Cie. 
Entering town, camionette strikes man, who is se- 
riously injured. Bunch goes to Brussels this evening. 

November 27. Section crosses city and parks at 
Forest, a suburb to south. Good cantonment. 
Division marches through Brussels this A.M. Per- 
kins returns this evening from Paris. Section quar- 
ters almost deserted tonight. 

November 28. Kitchen trailer repaired by Belgian 
blacksmith today — rear spring and two hangers 



256 S. S. U. 585 

broken. Two cars placed at disposal of Division 
Postal Service. This evening Section has good 
Thanksgiving dinner at Taverne Joseph in Brussels ; 
about twenty-five present. Lyman furnishes the en- 
tertainment. Wasilik gets divisional citation. 

November 29. Lieut. Jamon returns from per- 
mission. Section moves to Tervueren this afternoon. 
Cantonment very poor after the steam heat and 
electric lights at Forest. Bunch of fellows back to 
Brussels tonight. Perkins in leading role at the 
Gaity. 

November 30. About noon Section leaves for 
Tirlemont, where billets are secured. Pass through 
the city of Louvain on the way. Cars return from 
Postal Service. 

December 1. Division passes in review at Tirle- 
mont this morning. Lieut, goes to R. V. F. to look 
for mail, but finds none. Potter is appointed cook 
and Cunningham Private, 1st Class. 

December 2. Section leaves for Saint-Trond this 
noon. Dirty cantonment in large convent. Flint 
left behind sick at hospital in Tirlemont. Three cars 
leave for Forest for Section's baggage. 

December 3. Peters (Derek) and Googins cited 
for Croix de Guerre at the order of the Service de 
Sante du Corps d'Armee and today they receive their 
Croix. Stevens takes sick civilian to Holland 
frontier. First mail for long time. Parade led by 
168th band and celebration tonight. 

December 4. Cunningham returned from Forest 
last evening — Wasilik and Bradley arrive this A.M. 
Several of fellows get bath at convent this P.M. 



SECTION LOG 257 

December 5. Section leaves for Liege this A.M. 
Takes over good quarters at The Conservatory. 
Sjostrom comes up from Pare B — transferred to 
Section to replace Harper. Shively, Borden and 
Wasem return from permission. Guard is posted 
tonight. Section "looks over" the city this evening. 

December 6. Harper leaves Section for Pare B. 
Division parades through city this morning. Five 
cars leave for Aix-la-Chapelle (Germany) with the 
flags of the Division. Russell and Voorhees return 
from permission at St. Malo. 

December 7. Flint returns from hospital. Cars 
return from Aix-la-Chapelle. Scotchmen leave Sec- 
tion this afternoon; take with them some of "Gil's" 
souvenirs. 

December 8. Section moves to Verviers this P. M. 
Great reception. Streets and cafes crowded this 
evening. 

December 9. Several cars out on evacuations or 
with Division this A.M. Section leaves Verviers — 
crosses German border. Rear wheel drops off 
camionette few miles outside Aix-la-Chapelle, where 
Section is to stay. Quarters in Karlsbad Hotel, 
where men bunk four in a room. Piano downstairs, 
electric lights and baths in hotel. The Lieuts. get 
fine rooms used also for bureaux in Weber's Hotel, 
near by. 

December 10. Men are busy today overhauling 
cars, taking baths or seeing city. 

December 11. Division files through Aix-la- 
Chapelle this A.M. Reviewed by Corps d'Armee 
General, Belgian General and Gen. Segonne. Won- 



258 S. S. U. 585 

derful sight ! Capt. Roberts here this P.M. Spends 
night at Aix. 

December 12. Crane returns from Paris this 
A.M. Entire Section now present. About 1 p.m. 
Section leaves for Jiilich where it takes quarters in 
hospital. 

December 13. Section moves out of hospital 
today; gets good cantonment in schoolhouse next 
door. Kitchen and cars remain in hospital court. 

December 14. Sgts. Dumraese, Parsons and 
Turner of Pare B are put in subsistence with the Sec- 
tion. Wasem has eczema and is sent to hospital 
next door. 

December 15. Three cars go to Aachen for gas. 

December 16. "Mathe" leaves on permission. 
Section mail starts arriving by Postal Sections. 

December 18. Car is sent to Aix-la-Chapelle to 
get Division's B. C. M. mail. 

December 19. Lieut. Abbot leaves on permission 
to Paris this A.M. Corp. Lundgren is appointed 
Sergeant, 1st Class, and Pvt. 1st Class Shively be- 
comes Corporal ; order dated December 2. 

December 20. Four cars are sent out "on poste" 
today — two men to a car. Postes are at Heinsberg, 
Erkelenz, Geilenkirchen and Linnich. Show given by 
Division this evening — performers from Liege and 
Brussels assist. 

December 22. Wasem is sent to hospital at Gielen- 
kirchen. Shively, Marcellus and Cunningham leave 
for Verviers this A.M. to purchase supplies for 
Christmas dinner. 

December 24. Men return from Verviers this P.M. 



SECTION LOG 259 

December 25. One of rooms in schoolhouse is fixed 
up for Christmas dinner with benches, tables and 
decorations. In middle of the afternoon about thirty- 
six men sit down to a splendid dinner prepared in the 
section cuisine under direction of Emery. Best meal 
the Section has ever eaten together. Punch is served 
about 9 p.m. in the banquet-room and the Postal 
Service men are our guests. Singing and Victrola 
concert. 

December 26. , S. S. U. 629 car stops for mail 
today — first time since the twenty-second. Lieut. 
Jamon reports "Tony" for calling men on poste in 
for Christmas dinner. 

December 28. Capt. Roberts stops at Section. 
Lieut. Abbot returns from "perm" early in evening. 

December 29. Ex-Sgt. Peters is dropped from 
our rolls today — per order received by Lieut. Abbot 
at Paris. The mechanics on special duty from Pare 
leave this A.M. for Tirlemont. 

December 31. Sgt. Parsons returns from Echelon 
Americain, Pare B ; brings two new men with him. 

1919 

January 1. Potter relieved as cook today — re- 
placed by Crane. Good dinner, but nothing like one 
at Christmas. Starting with today S. S. U. 585 is 
an American Section, for Lieut. Jamon is leaving, 
but remains with the Division as Chief of the Auto- 
mobile Service. This morning Section assembles in 
mess-hall, where Lieut. Jamon makes a speech fitting 
the occasion, after which wine and cakes are served. 
First Christmas boxes arrive. 



260 S. S. U. 585 

January 2. "Lou" Wasem returns from hospital 
in Geilenkirchen. 

January 4. Lieut. Jamon leaves for Versailles 
this evening with the comptabilite of the Section. 

January 5. Four cars on D. S. with the Corps 
d'Armee at Aix are relieved today by cars from 
S. S. U. 501. 

January 6. Richard returns from permission this 
evening. Telegram comes from Provost Marshal 
stating that there will be places for five men at St. 
Malo leave area. 

January 7. Sick of the Division are evacuated to 
Geilenkirchen today. Wasilik, Potter, Houlihan, 
Bowerman and Wylie leave on "perm" this evening, 
en route for St. Malo. The mechanics from Pare D 
leave for S. S. U. 501. 

January 8. Section leaves Jiilich this noon for 
Aix. The first step toward home ! Get cantonment 
in the Karlsbad Hotel — where we were before. Cars 
parked in court in front of hotel. 

January 10. Cars placed on poste with the regi- 
ments for the march. 

January 11. Rouger leaves on "perm" this after- 
noon. Clifford to look after comptabilite de Vessence 
during his absence. Potter promoted to Private, 1st 
Class, and Stevens reduced to Private. 

January 12. Section leaves Aix this noon — moves 
to Liege, passing to north of Verviers, by the forts at 
Fieron. Cars parked in schoolhouse court and quar- 
ters are in small gymnasium. 

January 13. Section moves to cantonment in 
trade school near gym. 



SECTION LOG 261 

January 15. The Division is returning to Ger- 
many tomorrow, and we are to return to Aix. Every- 
one disappointed. 

January 16. Section leaves Liege this noon. 
Back to Germany ! S. S. U. 501 still in Aix, so we 
secure temporary quarters in the Karlsbad — on the 
ground floor and in the baths. 

January 18. Two cars stationed at Corps 
d'Armee, but men are rationed at Section. "Mathe" 
returns from "perm." Emery receives letter of com- 
mendation from Director of the French Automobile 
Service. Capts. Roberts and Greenwood on tour, 
stop at Section. S. S. U. 585 may be with first sec- 
tions to leave France next month. 

January 19. Section moves from Karlsbad this 
noon to rooms in schoolhouse near the Gare Centrale. 
Two large heated sleeping-rooms, one big recreation- 
room, kitchen with stoves and fine office. All equip- 
ment and baggage stored in basement. Staff car 
driven by Sgt. Lundgren badly smashed up this P.M. 
when it collides with trolley car. Neither "Tony" 
nor Lieut. Abbot is hurt, but car has to be towed in 
by Packard. Section consigned to quarters tonight 
due to German elections in city. Three Pare B men 
with Section again. 

January 20. Nearly lose our cantonment, as 
Chasseurs officer claims it is needed by them. 

January 21. Some of cars are washed today. 

January 23. Bowerman, Houlihan, Potter, Wasi- 
lik and Wylie return from "perm." 

January 24. Googins, Larkin and Weber leave on 
"perm" this morning en route for Chamonix. Lieut. 



262 S. S. U. 585 

Coggswell and Lieut. Nichols of S. S. U. 534 with 
some of their men have supper with Section. 

January 25. Tremaine to Brussels on special 
leave to arrange for disposition of Victrola. 

January 26. Lieut, announces at roll call that 
drill starts tomorrow. No definite dope on date of 
departure. Richard is demobilized and leaves to- 
night. Section is now without a fourrier. 

January 27. First setting-up exercises, drill and 
hike the Section has had for months. Lieut. Abbot 
in command. Emery and "Mathe" held up this 
evening for wearing kepi and for being on street 
without belt. 

January 28. Exercises and hike in charge of Sgt. 
Lundgren. Tremaine returns from Brussels. 

January 31. Three cars sent out to Grevenbrosch 
this afternoon to work temporarily with the 77th 
Division. (S. S. U. 629 and its Division have moved 
to Alsace.) 

February 1. Parsons, Spitler and Fitzimmons 
leave Section this morning for Pare B. Perkins re- 
lieved as cook today. Larsen replaces him in kitchen. 
Marechal-des-Logis from R. \. F. is temporarily at- 
tached to Section. Ravitaillement train doesn't 
appear today. 

February 2. Ten cars report at Ambulance 1/1 
at 6 a.m. to evacuate to hospital train. No bread 
for breakfast. Emery leaves for eight days in prison 
at Eschweiler. 

February 3. Cunningham returns from Liege this 
A.M. His car is at Fleron with a rear wheel broken. 



SECTION LOG 263 

Car is sent down this P.M. to fix up 204 — also carries 
"Bowy" and Wasem, who spend night in Liege. 

February 5. Show given for Division at the 
theatre this evening. 

February 6. Green returns from a short permis- 
sion. 

February 7. Perkins and Butler away today on 
twenty-four-hour pass to Verviers. New order ar- 
rives regarding permissions. 

February 8. Send food and cigarettes to Emery 
at Herzogenrath prison. 

February 10. Butler, Perkins and D. C. Peters 
leave on fourteen-day "perm" for England. Clifford, 
Lyman and Marcellus begin a seven-day tour of 
Belgium. Emery returns from prison. Weber re- 
ports back from Chamonix. 

February 11. Larkin and Googins return from 
"perm." Larrabee and Flint go on leave of seven 
days in Belgium. 

February 12. Lieut, and Beecher go to Pare B 
at Tirlemont today. Bring back cigarettes and 
chewing gum from the Red Cross. Also a box of 
much-needed soap. B. C. M. mail brought the 
shoulder emblems — Cocks of Verdun — today. 

February 13. Emery leaves on permission of 
twenty days plus traveling time. We say farewell 
to him. 

February 14. Marcellus returns from Belgium. 
"Bowy" and Googins report back from twenty-four 
hours' absence. 

February 15. Lyman returns from permission in 
Belgium. 



264 S. S. U. 585 

February 16. Col. Piatt Andrews pays us a visit — 
but gives us no definite "dope" on leaving. Clifford 
returns from permission. Ballantyne and Sjostrom 
leave for seven days in Belgium. 

February 18. Maj. Berle inspects our camp and 
O. K.'s it. "Mathe" is demobilized, leaves for home. 

February 19. Flint and Larrabee return from 
Belgium. Section 633 is relieving our four cars at 
Grevenbrosch. 

February 20. Lieut. Abbot and Bradley cited at 
order of the Corps d'Armee, also Section Corps 
d'Armee citation. Sgt. Hubbard, Campbell and 
Tremaine leave for Paris. 

February 21. Lieut. Abbot, Marcellus and Lewis 
go toward Coblenz for tobacco and food supplies. 
Find a good supply and return this evening in the 
rain. Fellows glad. 

February 22. Sale of tobacco, chocolate, cakes, 
chewing gum and shaving cream this A.M. 

February 24. Ballantyne and Sjostrom return 
from leave. 

February 25. Bradley and Crane leave on 
"perm"— "Brad" to Paris, "Check" to Belgium. 
Shively leaves on detached service at Hqs., Paris. 
Butler returns from England this P.M. 

February 26. Derek and Perkins report back 
from England this A.M. 

February 28. "Check" returns from Belgium. 

March 1. French Sgt. from 167th Regiment is 
attached to Section — replacing Rouger. Potter on 
pass to Coblenz today. Stevens leaves for England, 
and Cunningham, Russell and Voorhees off for leave 



SECTION LOG 265 

in Belgium. Larsen leaves kitchen today ; replaced 
by Bowerman. Section has tickets for excellent con- 
cert at theatre this evening. 

March 2. Lieut. Abbot leaves for Lille this A.M. 
with Beecher, the pay roll and the C. R. voucher. 
Hubbard, Shively, Campbell and Tremaine return 
this evening. "Shive's" call to Paris was to have 
photograph taken. 

March 3. Bradley back from Paris this P.M. with 
report that a section is to relieve us and take over 
our cars on or about the tenth of March. Welcome 
news to all. 

March 4. Borden and Wasem leave for Paris this 
P.M. "Deak" and Larkin on short pass to Erkelenz. 

March 5. Men start getting cars in shape today. 

March 6. Lundgren and Lynch leave this A.M. 
on short trip up the Rhine. Lieut. Hitchcock and 
some of men from his section (514) stop at our 
quarters this P.M. Section is on way to join French 
Division at Grevenbrosch. 

March 7. Three cars off at 6 a.m. to make evacua- 
tions to train. Lundgren and Lynch return from 
Maintz late in afternoon, reporting excellent trip up 
Rhine. 

March 8. Capt. Roberts inspects section equip- 
ment this A.M. Brings some dope on our return 
trip. Larkin leaves for England on "perm" this 
A.M. Cunningham, Russell and Voorhees return 
from leave. 

March 10. Butler, Peters, Campbell and Wasilik 
leave this noon on thirty-six-hour pass up the Rhine. 
Borden and Wasem back from Paris this P.M. 



266 S. S. U. 585 

March 11. Flint and Wylie leave on pass — to go 
up the Rhine, but "Bill" loses his portefeuille with 
money, citation, etc., so they get no farther than 
Cologne. Four men back from Mayence. 

March 12. S. S. U. 537 pulls into Aix early this 
A.M. under command of Lieut. Maclntyre. Cooks 
have a busy day. Cars, equipment and all material 
signed over by C. O. S. S. U. 537. Our car at 
Eschweiler relieved and our work with the 128th 
D. I. is at an end. Lieut. Abbot's brother George is 
visiting him today. 

March 13. Borden and Bradley leave this A.M. 
for Liege to arrange for cantonment for tonight and 
to secure coach for ride to Paris. Section leaves 
West Station at 4.30. Larsen is missing. Arriving 
at Liege, find our train pulls out tonight. Second- 
class coach reserved for Section. 

March 14. Reach Dunkirk in time for good supper 
at station — then on to Paris, this time our car is 
attached to a freight train. 

March 15. Slow and jerky ride toward Paris. 
Stuck for a time in Le Bourget. Car hitched to 
another train which lands us at Noisy-le-Sec. Here 
baggage is unloaded and trucks from Hqs. carry us 
and baggage to city. Supper at Rue Ganneron and 
we are given passes till 4 p.m. tomorrow. Bunch 
sleeps in old barn on Ave. St. Ouen, though men have 
privilege of sleeping out. Stevens and Larsen are 
waiting for Section at Paris. 

March 16. Passes are extended twenty-four hours. 
Fine meals today at Rue Ganneron. Great variety 



SECTION LOG 267 

of rumors regarding Base Camp, getting home, etc. 
"Bowy" a Private since yesterday. 

March 17. Roll call at four and by truck for 
Gare de Lyon, where we take train for Ferrieres. 
"Bowy," "Gooch," Kirby and Yens serve as the 
baggage and guard detachment during the trip. 
Reach Base Camp about 11 p.m. after hike from 
station. Find a damp, cold barracks and many 
"details" for the following day, but nothing in line 
of refreshments. Realize enjin that we are in the 
army. 

March 18. Everyone working on details today 
except non-coms and mechanics. "Johnny'* is here 
in camp with his Section. 

March 19. Section receives bunch of chocolate, 
cigars, gum, tooth paste, toilet articles and bags from 
Red Cross. Everyone still on detail. 

March 20. Fourteen sections leave for port this 
A.M. Lewis and Weber off on short leave. 

March 21. Lundgren off for short leave in Paris. 
Lieut. Abbot is officer of the day. Lyman on leave 
to Orleans this afternoon. Bunch of fellows on guard 
tonight. Larkin back from England. 

March 22. Section has qualification cards made 
out this P.M. Five sections drive into camp with 
their cars. Y. M. C. A. dance. 

March 23. Lundgren back from Paris. 

March 24. Weber and Lyman back this morning. 
Lieut. Abbot in Paris today. Section prepares to be 
deloused tomorrow. Lewis back this evening. 

March 25. Physical exam this A.M. Bags and 
blankets deloused. Bath this P.M. and Section moves 



268 S. S. U. 585 

into Tent 15, Quarantine Camp. Sgt. 1st Class 
Roberts joins today by transfer from Section 582. 
Section on guard tonight. Y. M. C. A. entertain- 
ment. 

March 26. Pvt. 1st Class Barnes, transferred to 
Section from Cas. Det. Base Camp, joins Section 
today. Lyman working on Service History. Is 
transferred to Cas. Det., but order is revoked. Get 
infantry packs, belts, helmets, etc. 

April 1. Inspection and pay. Sailing lists ready. 
Holbrook and Core are in camp. Lieut. Abbot is 
baggage officer for contingent — Hubbard helping 
him. 

April 2. Up early and hike to station. Well 
loaded with packs, helmets, gas masks and musettes. 
Contingent has special train for Brest. Two second- 
class coaches — one for officers, the other for clerks — 
rest of men in box cars. Capt. Wm. Bingham in 
charge of contingent. 

April 3. Ride all day. Men steal some French 
Army hay — causes trouble. 

April 4. Reach Brest soon after midnight. Hike 
up long hill to camp. To bed about 4 a.m. — roused 
up at six. Inspections today and some men put on 
K. P. tonight. 

April 5-11. Inspections, details and attention to 
officers mark this most pleasant week at Brest. 
Plenty of hard work, abundant food, various enter- 
tainments and everlasting fear of breaking some camp 
rule and so being held in Brest. Section is O. K.'d 
at last. 

April 12. Hike to docks in rain. Embark at noon 



SECTION LOG 269 

on Great Northern — fast Pacific mail steamer. Much 
better than the old San Jacinto. Nearly everyone 
becomes seasick before we leave harbor. 

April 13. Mess-hall not popular today. Section 
very "low." 

April 14-19. Much rough weather — long and 
tedious mess — lines and frequent inspections. Sea- 
sickness gradually wears off. Lyman officiates as 
butcher during trip. Little excitement. 

April 20. Pull into New York harbor beautiful 
Easter Sunday morning. Dock at Hoboken, leave 
ship about eleven and only have to wait four hours 
for instructions and a meal (light breakfast was 
served at five). By train to Camp Dix. 

April 21-23. Examinations, delousing, discharg- 
ing, etc., occupy three days at Camp Dix. Wasem 
and Crane to be mustered out near home. Discharge 
papers received on the afternoon of April 23 in the 
year of our Lord 1919. Section scattered, but every- 
body's happy. May we all meet again ! 



GLOSSARY 

abri — shelter, dugout 

ambulance— field hospital (when not used to denote a motor 

ambulance) 
assis — a sitting case 
atelier — workshop, garage 
avion — aeroplane 

a I'ordre de la Division — in divisional orders 
B. C. M. (Bureau Centrale Militaire)— Central Military Office 
blessd — wounded 
boulangerie — bakery 
brancardier — stretcher-bearer 
brigadier-ordinaire — "mess sergeant" 
camion — motor truck 
camionette — light motor truck 
chars d'assaut — tanks 
comptabilite — accounts 
caserne — permanent barracks 

cave vout^e — cellar with arched roof (for use in case of raids) 
corps d'arm^e — army corps 
couch6 — lying or stretcher case 
coup de main — surprise attack or raid 

D. S. A. (Directeur des Services Automobiles) — Director of the 
Automobile Services 

D. I. (Division d'lnfanterie) — Infantry Division 

D. S. — detached service 

Echelon Am^ricain — American automobile supply station 

6clat — shell fragment, piece of shrapnel 

essence — gasoline 

ferme — farmhouse (including enclosure and outbuildings) 

fourrier — clerk 

galon — stripe, chevron 

gare — railroad station 

gaz^ — gassed 

G. B. D. (Groupe de Brancardiers Divisionnaire) — group of 
divisional stretcher-bearers 



272 S. S. U. 585 

H. O. E. (Hopital d'Evacuation) — evacuation hospital 

kepi — military cap with vizor 

malades — sick 

marechal des logis — sergeant (in cavalry, artillery or auto- 
mobile services) 

medecin-chef — chief surgeon of a regiment, or of G. B. D. 

m^decin divisionnaire — chief surgeon of a division 

musette — small sack thrown over one shoulder, carrying small 
personal articles 

Pare automobile (A, B, etc.) — automobile supply stations or 
bases attached to each of the French Armies 

permission — leave, furlough 

petits blessfe — slightly wounded 

portfeuille — purse 

poste — dressing station 

ravitaillement — food supply 

R. V. F. (Ravitaillement de la Viande Fraiche) — fresh meat 
supply train 

R. I. ( Regimen t-d'Infanterie) — infantry regiment 

sausis — observation balloon 

S. S. A. (Section Sanitaire Anglaise) — English ambulance sec- 
tion 

S. S. U. (Section Sanitaire Am^ricaine) — American ambulance 
section 

triage — relay or sorting station 



APPENDIX 1 

SECTION CITATIONS 



(i^biO isnoiaivia — noiifitiO noiJoo®) 



noiaivia 8£I 
,SIGI aiul 81 al .0 .<J uA .7otsM-iB*a 

1 )rdrt de la Division N 

";TII .oT4 TioieiviCJ aj an saasO 



no!HfvtCT 'i^ST si iasbuBrnmoO t.iKvrooaB lBi6n^O 3.1 
■.aol&vr\Q al eb anbtOH A 3*19 ■■■fj-'- ■ 

'■■ '''zc, O'un 7.i}l'- 1 

:68a .U .8 .8 sJ 
20£b an^il ns abiina ,fiJ:tjT, 8 ue isl ub e^bntuo'i aab aiDoy uA 
,33Bb0B 9nu*I), avuanq iifii e ^zali'ji&ih ziii aaonsigndoiio aab 
.aiifiiinag notfiJiioibB'I ^lei iao iwp dDrtisiubfis ano'b i« 3l§J5 nu'b 
aaq infiJia^ri'n .a^y^^Id aab abiqai a4il noiiBuaisv^'i i^1U^^& A 
jjji'paiil. toUb i j9ii6Jj3ni «9 ifd aaracnori na asJisq asb ^iglsm 
Slip aroi aal aaJuoi nbWi^^^a sb ' a-rijoiggf - afi a^:}ao*5 aab Blob 
.. M.'- "^ n,..,5hnr- .ainnaq b iul ui asJuoi asb :f£i^U 



noiaiviO 9891 bI ibO iBi^naD f>J armo^noa aiqoo luo"! 



(Section Citation — Divisional Order) 

128 Division 
fitat-Major. Au P. C. le 18 Juin 1918. 

Ordre de la Division No. 117c 



Le G6n6ral Segonne, Commandant la 128e Division 
cite a I'Ordre de la Division: 

La S. S. U. 585: 

Au cours des journ6es du ler au 8 Juin, entree en ligne dans 
des circonstances tres diflSciles, a fait preuve d'une audace, 
d'un zele at d'une endurance qui ont fait I'admiration g6n6rale. 

A assure I'^vacuation trfes rapide des blesses, n'h^sitant pas 
malgr6 des pertes en hommes et en materiel, h aller jusq'au 
dela des Postes de Secours de Bataillon toutes les fois que 
r^tat des routes le lui a permis. 



Pour copie conforme Le G6n6ral Cdt la 128e Division 

Le M6decin Divisionnaire 

Sign6: Lejonne. Sign6: Segoxxe. 




128 Divisioji 

£lat-Major. 



AU r. C. li> IS Jain 1918. 




Ordre de la Division No. U~c. 

Le General SEGONNE, Commandant la 128' Division 
cite a rOrdre de la Division: 

La S S. U 585 

Au cours des journees du 1 er au 8 Juin. entree en ligne dans 
des circonstances tris dilficiles, a lait preuve d'une audace, d'un ie\e 
et d'une endurance qui ont fait I'admiration g^ndrale 

A assure I'evacuation tris rapide des blesses, n'h^sitant pas 
malgr^ des pertes en hommes et en materiel, a alier jusqu'au dela des 
Postes de Secours de Bataillon toutes les fois que I'etat des routes le 
lui a permis. 

Pour copie conforme Le General Cdt la 128e Division 



Le M^decin Divisionnaire 
Signe : Lejonne. 



Signe Segonne. 




(isbtO sqioO TfmiA — noneJiO aoiios?.) 

jAH&iiaO flaiTHAXirp aKiAJiO 

■io(,aM-jBj3: 

fennoaig*! ub ubsiuS 
(TiACTxa) "Q" IS0.8I .olil anaaO .(gnoWaioaab) 

«){ 59iiO n9 Icabnsmmov') f^iSasO ub noilBdotqqs *i4iqA 
iBdo&iAM 9l ,a!>aai'i n9 H'iaiBoh^caA 89-iifinnoitib^qx3 83:)io'5 
9b a9eii8?08i^ 894anA esl ^taifO ns tnabflsnrmoO .sDnsi'^ ab 

Jnoa algriO a?! sraxnoo 8iu9Joobno'j 39l Jnob biieJlrtBa n6b998" 
-diirti9qniIno'biafioi*fis^"«'*'^ ihqxa aiioih^m aulq xib a^mias 
-iubnon eal ,J£roA !■§ nx? TJ ub sboii^iq bI inabn^'I JfiRlls aide 
araSnJxd'I i tJbm ab ia luot 9b .aaiulioy aiual Mtoq Jno eiira* 
Jno T{ *9 ,aiai9an9 8iii asb labuoa 9a aiBoiBJ, aoisa aDniva 
-eoq in9rn9ll9tt*J8ai iiaB li'iip a^iq aolq 9l 8^a89ld gal Uli9ii99T 
Irasa^b anaa Jnalov oA .s^dmoi Jn9iBj^ all lio Jnioq ah gldia 
rSig^Ua aiggnab sb Ja a^o^gWai 9b xiiq ub 'mubt Jno eli .igisq 
teal 300* 8noi*fbaoD aiu9llbm a9l anab tsuoevij a ^aiJnganoo laom 
-Wia 89b xodo sb 9vMi aidrnon nu i9 trofaJYia 98SI al 9b a^aasJd 
I ".911^^ 9i6if09iq ns zbdmoi 89niaiov anoia 

.eiei laivnaT. IS si ,Iei^n^O i9iiiayp bnaiO uA 

JariD^iaM sJ 
,J?.a['I 9& a9aia?n8-r'i a9danA 89l ItadD n9 inisbnamrnoO 

.KIATa4 

zsrato^noO JiaiJxH luo*! 

.i9noIoO-JnBn9iu9iJ gJ 

.i91in08I9l 9b iJBSiIja lib i9ri0 



(Section Citation — Army Corps Order) 

Gband QxJAaTiEE Gen^rai 

des 
Armtes Fran^aises de I'Est 

fitat-Major 

Bureau du Personnel 

(decorations). Ordre No. 13.021 "D" (Extrait) 

Aprfes approbation du G6n6ral Commandant en Chef les 
Forces expdditionnaires Am^ricaines en France, le Mar6chal 
de France, Commandant en Chef les Arm6es Franfaises de 
I'Est, cite k I'Ordre du Corps d'Armde: 

Sectiok Sanitaire Ameeicaike 585 

"Section sanitaire dont les conducteurs comme les Chefs sont 
animus du plus ra^ritoire esprit d'abn6gation at d'un imperturb- 
able allant. Pendant la periode du 17 au 24 Aofit, les conduc- 
teurs ont porte leurs voitures, de jour at de nuit, k I'extrfime 
avance sans jamais se soucier des tirs ennemis, et y ont 
recueilli les bless6s le plus pr^s qu'il 6tait mat^riellement pos- 
sible du point ou ils 6taient tombds. Au volant sans ddsem- 
parer, ils ont r6ussi au prix de fatigues at de dangers aUfegre- 
ment consentis, a evacuer dans les meilleurs conditions tous les 
blesses de la 128e Division et un nombre dl6ve de ceux des Divi- 
sions voisines tomb6s en premiere ligne." 

Au Grand Quartier G6n6ral, le 21 Janvier 1919. 

Le Mar^chal, 

Commandant en Chef les Armies Fran?aises de I'Est, 

Petain. 

Pour Extrait Conforme: 
Le Lieutenant-Colonel, 

Chef du Bureau de Personnel. 




GRAND QUARTIER GENERAL 

Armees Francaises de I'Est 

fiTAT-MAJOX? 

Bureau du Personnel 




Ordre No. W)2\ „D" (Extrait) 



Aprbs approbation du C^n«ral Commandant en Chel les Forces expSdilion- 
Ami:ricaines en France, le Mardchal de France, Commandant en Chel les 
;s Kran(;aises de I'Est, cite i I'Ordrc du Corps d'Armt'e 

SECTION SANITAIRE AMERICAINE 585 



scs le plus prt;s qu'il ctail 
Au volant sans desempai 



IS meritoire esprit d'abn(^gation et d'un imperturbable ailant. Pendant la p^riode 
!7 au 24 Aoiil, les conducteurs ont portc leurs voitures, de jour et de nuit, i 
er dcs lirs ennemis, et y ont recueilli les 
:ment possible du point oil ils ^laient lom- 
t rtiussi au pri.\ de latigues et de dangers 
Idgrcment consentis, il evacuer dans les meilleurs conditions tous les blesses de 
128e Division et un nombre i!k've de ceux des Divisions voisines tombi's en 
emii-re ligne." 

Au Grand Quarticr Giniral, le :i Janvier lni'). 

Le Mar^chal, 
Commandant en Chef les Armdes Frangaises ile I'Est, 

PETAIX. 



Extrait Conform 
Le Lieutenant-Colonel, 
Chel du biire.iu du Per 




--t^^ni 




APPENDIX 2 

LIST OF MEN DECORATED 



Croix de Guerre 



Abbot (Lieutenant) 

Ballantyne 

Bates 

Beecher 

Borden 

Bowerman 

Bradley 

Butler 

Campbell 

Cunningham 

Flint 

Googins 

Green 

Johnstone 

Larkin 

Larrabee 



Larsen 

Lewis 

Lundgren 

Perkins 

Peters (Derek) 

Potter 

Russell 

Shepard 

Shively (D. S. C.) 

Stevens 

Tremaine 

Voorhees 

Wasem 

Wasilik 

Weber 

Wylie 



LIST OF MEN WOUNDED OR GASSED 

Wounded 



Abbot (Lieutenant) 

Bates 

Borden 

Potter 
Russell 



Oassed 



Shively 
Weber 



Voorhees 
Stevens 



APPENDIX 3 

From Le Matin, August 1, 1918 

UNE DIVISION d'eLITE 
LES "LOUPS" 

CE NOM, DONNE PAR L'ENNEMI A NOS SOLDATS, 
EST PLUS QUE JAMAIS MERITE 

[dE NOTRE CORRESPONDANT DE GUERRE ACCREDITE 
AUX ARMEES] 

Front fran9ais, 31 juillet. 

La relation, au jour le jour, des exploits personnels 
de quelques-uns des soldats les plus braves de la foule 
des combattants est entreprise assez facile. II est 
plus malaise de connaitre, en fin de journee, les resul- 
tats acquis le role joue par les unites engagees. 

II faut, pour rapporter avec fidelite I'histoire des 
combats d'un regiment ou d'une division, attendre 
patiemment la fin de la bataille et les moments de 
calme et de repos ou les etats-majors etudient et 
compulsent comptes rendus, notes et renseignements, 
les coordonnent, les completent et s'efforcent de ces 
grimoires de degager "le sens." 

C'est un travail souvent long et penible et sa diffi- 
culte nous explique pourquoi nous ne sommes instruits 
quelquefois que tres tard de la part prise dans Paction 
par telle ou telle formation. 



WRITE-UP OF "WOLVES" 277 

En parcourant le front nous avons rencontre une 
des plus fameuses divisions ayant participe non seule- 
ment a la liberation des regions reconquises, mais qui, 
depuis le mois de mars, a vecu toutes les journees, les 
heures d'esperance et les minutes angoissees de la 
grande melee. 

C'est une division d'elite : la "Division des Loups." 

Son nom lui a ete donne par le Boche lui-meme. 
Naguere, lorsqu'il parlait de certains combattants 
dont il avait, au bois le Pretre, senti la fougue et le 
mordant, il disait d'eux: "Ce sont des loups." 

Le nom a plu a cette division; il lui plait parce 
qu'elle sait qu'il est justifie et il lui vaut quelque 
fierte. 

S'il est justifie son nom.^* Je vais tenter de le 
prouver: C'est au matin du 11 juin qu'apres un long 
voyage elle arriva dans la foret de Villers-Cotterets. 
Devant Longpont-Corcy elle fut aussitot engagee. 
Obligee sous la pesee formidable du Boche de retirer 
ses avant-postes a I'ouest du ruisseau la Savieres, elle 
se disposa sur I'echine de Faverolles ou elle tint tete 
a I'adversaire. L'Allemand I'attaqua jusqu'a dix fois 
par jour et le pius grand eloge qui lui peut etre 
decerne pour sa resistance farouche le fut par le 
general Kundt qui commandait les troupes allemandes 
dont elle avait a combattre I'effort: 

— L'infanterie, dit-il, s'est montree au cours de la 
lutte un adversaire difiicile, tout a fait digne de re- 
spect. 

Dans le but de se reserver des places d'armes plus 
propices aux offensives projetees, et pour "donner de 
Pair" aux lisieres de la foret, la division des Loups 



278 S. S. U. 585 

entreprit plusieurs operations locales qui lui permi- 
rent de s'etablir sur I'autre rive de la Savieres. La, 
elle fut en butte a cent escarmouches ennemies, au tir 
discontinu des canons de tranchees, des lance-bombes 
et obusiers, mais tout cet arsenal ne put la decider 
a ceder un lopin de terrain et, lorsqu'au 18 juillet on 
lui demanda d'attaquer, ce fut avec une ardeur ra- 
jeunie qu'elle enleva la ligne boche et que, en depit 
d'un tir meurtrier, elle atteignit ses objectifs, s'em- 
para du bois des Brunettes, gagna trois kilometres, 
prit plus de 20 canons et 200 mitrailleuses, avec 400 
prisonniers. 

Les "loups," genes par des feux flanques partant 
des buissons d'Hauviron, re9urent I'ordre de s'arreter 
et de se laisser distancer par une division nouvelle. 

Mais a I'ordre de s'arreter, les "loups" ont 
repondu : "Jamais !" et quand leurs camarades arri- 
verent, ils les virent, dans un dernier, elan, bousculer 
I'ennemi, le chasser de ses positions et, d'un seul coup, 
s'en emparer. 

Et maintenant — apres ce pauvre resume de leurs 
operations — pourrai-je vous conter ce que, au cours 
de ces journees, ils depenserent d'heroisme, ces 
"loups" qui sont aussi des lions? 

La tache est compliquee ! On a vu la le soldat 
Brioloy, cerne par douze Boches, foncer sur eux, en 
tuer deux, en mettre a mal deux autres et faire pri- 
sonniers les huit guerriers qui demeuraient. 

On a vu I'adjudant Gauthier charger en tete de sa 
troupe et enlever des mitrailleuses qui tiraient sans 
arret. Gauthier aussi a fait huit prisonniers, et il a, 
au surplus, ramene leurs pieces ! 



WRITE-UP OF "WOLVES" 279 

On a vu le sous-lieutenant Feterly, avec quelques- 
uns de ses hommes, s'emparer d'une batterie. On a 
vu Letremy, soldat, penetrer seul dans une ferme bien 
gardee, tuer trois occupants et tirailler ensuite sur 
les autres qui s'enfuyaient, terrifies par ce geant ! 
Letremy, tou jours seul, s'installa a leur place et la 
garda . . . tout simplement. 

Ce sont la quelques anecdotes, mais il les faudrait 
tous citer, ces soldats magnifiques ; pour etre vrai, si 
I'on voulait ecrire un Livre d'or a la louange de nos 
troupes, il y faudrait citer tous les soldats fran9ais. . . 



APPENDIX 4 

Grand Quartier General 

des Armees Au G. Q. G., 

du NoRD et du Nord-Est le 12 Novembre 19 — 

Le Commandant en Chef Ordre General No. 124. 

Aux Armees Fran9aises, 

Pendant de longs mois, vous avez lutte. L'histoire 
celebrera la tenacite et la fiere energie deployees pen- 
dant ces quatre annees par notre Patrie, qui devait 
vaincre pour ne pas mourir. 

Nous allons, demain, pour mieux dieter la paix, 
porter nos armes jusqu'au Rhin. Sur cette terre 
d'Alsace-Lorraine qui nous est chere, vous penetrerez 
en liberateurs. Vous irez plus loin, en pays allemand, 
occuper des territoires qui sont le gage necessaire des 
justes reparations. 

La France a souffert dans ses campagnes ravagees, 
dans ses villes ruinees ; elle a des deuils nombreux et 
cruels. Les provinces delivrees ont eu a supporter des 
vexations intolerables et des outrages odieux. 

Mais vous ne repondrez pas aux crimes commis 
par des violences qui pourraient vous sembler legiti- 
mes dans I'exces de vos ressentiments. Vous resterez 
disciplines, respectueux des personnes et des biens ; 
apres avoir abattu votre adversaire par les armes, 
vous lui en imposerez encore par la dignite de votre 
attitude, et le monde ne saura ce qu'il doit le plus 



A FRENCH ARMY ORDER 281 

admirer, de votre tenue dans le succes ou de votre 
heroisme dans les combats. 

J'adresse avec vous un souvenir emu a nos morts, 
dont le sacrifice nous a donne la Victoire; j'envoie un 
salut plein d'affection attristee aux peres et aux 
meres, aux veuves et aux orphelins de France, qui 
cessent un instant de pleurer, dans ces jours d'al- 
legresse nationale, pour applaudir au triomphe de nos 
Armes. 

Je m'incline devant vos drapeaux magnifiques. 
Vive la France ! 

Petain. 



I 



APPENDIX 5 

STATION LIST OF UNIT SINCE ARRIVAL IN THE 
AMERICAN E. F. 



Unit U. S. Army Ambulance Service Company, 
Section 585. Arrived in France, August 20, 1917, 
on transport San Jacinto, at St. Nazaire. 



Station 
Nearest town and Dept. 

St. Nazaire — Loire Inf 

Angers — Maine-et-Loire 
Nogent-le-Routrou — Eine-et-Loire 

Sandricourt — Oise 

G^nicourt — Meuse 

Amanty — Meuse 

Burey-en-Vaux — Meuse 
Custines — Meurthe-et-Moselle 
Nancy — Meurthe-et-Moselle 

Sandricourt — Oise 

Ecouen — Seine-et-Oise .... 

Sezanne — Marne 

Void — Meuse 

Nancy — Meurthe-et-Moselle 
Baccarat — Meurthe-et-Moselle 
St. Clement — Meurthe-et-Moselle . 
Baccarat — Meurthe-et-Moselle 

Bazien — Vosges 

Charmes — Vosges 

Troyes — Aube 

Chauconin — Seine-et-Marne 

Aumale — Seine Inf 

Picquigny — Somme 

Esquennoy — Oise 



Arrived 


Left 


Date 


Date 


Aug. 20, '17 


Sept. 29, '17 


Sept. 29, '17 


Sept. 30, '17 


Sept. 30, '17 


Oct. 1, '17 


Oct. 1, '17 


Oct. 8, '17 


Oct. 9, '17 


Oct. 12, '17 


Oct. 12, '17 


Oct. 16, '17 


Oct. 16, '17 


Nov. 3, '17 


Nov. 3, '17 


Nov. 23, '17 


Nov. 23, '17 


Nov. 24, '17 


Nov. 25, '17 


Nov. 27, '17 


Nov. 27, '17 


Nov. 28, '17 


Nov. 28, '17 


Nov. 29, '17 


Nov. 29, '17 


Nov. 30, '17 


Nov. 30, '17 


Dec. 23, '17 


Dec. 23, '17 


Apr. 1, '18 


Apr. 1, '18 


Apr. 22, '18 


Apr. 22, '18 


Apr. 23, '18 


Apr. 23, '18 


May 3, '18 


May 3, '18 


May 5, '18 


May 5, '18 


May 6, '18 


May 6, '18 


May 7, '18 


May 7, '18 


May 9, '18 


May 9, '18 


May 20, '18 


May 20, '18 


May 30, '18 



STATION IJST 



283 



Station 
Nearest town and Dept. 

Le Meux — Oise 
Rethondes — Oise 
Vez — Oise 

Villers-Cotterets — Aisne 
Boursonne — Oise 
Pierrefonds — Oise 
Le Fayel — Oise 
Taillefontaine — Aisne 
Couloisy — Oise 
Jaulzy — Oise . 
Vache Noire — Aisne 
St. Christophe — Aisne 
Vez — Oise 
Equiry — Aisne 
Soissons — Aisne . 
Crouy — Aisne 
Soissons — Aisne . 
Dury — Somme 
Bourbourg — Nord 
I^e Casino — Nord 
Rexpoede — Nord 
Beveren — Belgium 
Oostvleteren — Belgium 
Langemarck — Belgium 
Wifwege — Belgium . 
Staden — Belgium 
Hooglede — Belgium . 
Coolscamp — Belgium 
Iseghem — Belgium 
Emelghem — Belgium 
Oostroosebeke — Belgium 
Vive-St.-Bavon — Belgium 
Nokere — Belgium 
Vive-St.-Eloi — Belgium 
Bevere — Belgium 
Oultre — Belgium 
Osseghem — Belgium 
Forest — Belgium . 
Tervueren — Belgium 



Arrived 
Date 
May 30, '18 
May 31, '18 
May 31, '18 
June 1, '18 
June 11, '18 
July 20, '18 
July 23, '18 
July 29, '18 
July 31, '18 
Aug. 13, '18 
Aug. 18, '18 
Aug. 21, '18 
Aug. 24, '18 
Sept. 4, '18 
Sept. 5, '18 
Sept. 8, '18 
Sept. 19, '18 
Sept. 20, '18 
Sept. 31, '18 
Sept. 22, '18 
Sept. 26, '18 
Sept. 27, '18 
Sept. 28, '18 
Sept. 29, '18 
Oct. 1, '18 
Oct. 16, '18 
Oct. 17, '18 
Oct. 18, '18 
Oct. 19, '18 
Oct. 24, '18 
Oct. 27, '18 
Oct. 29, '18 
Nov. 3, '18 
Nov. 5, '18 
Nov. 24, '18 
Nov. 25, '18 
Nov. 26, '18 
Nov. 27, '18 
Nov. 29, '18 



Left 

Date 
May 31, '18 
May 31, '18 
June 1, '18 
June 11, '18 
July 20, '18 
July 23, '18 
July 29, '18 
July 31, '18 
Aug. 13, '18 
Aug. 18, '18 
Aug. 21, '18 
Aug. 24, '18 
Sept. 4, '18 
Sept. 5, '18 
Sept. 8, '18 
Sept. 19, '18 
Sept. 20, '18 
Sept. 21, '18 
Sept. 22, '18 
Sept. 26, '18 
Sept. 27, '18 
Sept. 28, '18 
Sept. 29, '18 
Oct. 1, '18 
Oct. 16, '18 
Oct. 17, '18 
Oct. 18, '18 
Oct. 19, '18 
Oct. 24, '18 
Oct. 27, '18 
Oct. 29, '18 
Nov. 3, '18 
Nov. 5, '18 
Nov. 24, '18 
Nov. 25, '18 
Nov. 26, '18 
Nov. 27, '18 
Nov. 29, '18 
Nov. 30, '18 



284 S. S. U. 585 

Station Arrived Left 

Nearest tozan and Dept. Date Date 

Tirlemont — Belgium .... Nov. 30, '18 Dec. 2, '18 

St. Trond— Belgium Dec. 2, '18 Dec. 5, '18 

Liege — Belgium Dec. 5, '18 Dec. 8, '18 

Verviers — Belgium Dec. 8, '18 Dec. 9, '18 

Aix-la-Chapelle — Germany . . . Dec. 9, '18 Dec. 12, '18 

Jiilich — Germany Dec. 12, '18 Jan. 9, '19 

Aix-la-Chapelle Jan. 9, '19 Jan. 12, '19 

Liege — Belgium Jan. 12, '19 Jan. 16, '19 

Aix-la-Chapelle Jan. 16, '19 Mar. 13, '19 

Paris Mar. 15, '19 Mar. 17, '19 

Ferrieres-Gatinnais (Loiret) . . Mar. 17, '19 Apr. 2, '19 

Brest Apr. 4, '19 Apr. 12, '19 

On board Great Northern . . . Apr. 12, '19 Apr. 20, '19 

Camp Dix (New Jersey) . . . Apr. 20, '19 Apr. 23, '19 



APPENDIX 6 

COMPLETE ROSTER OF S. S. U. 585 FROM AUGUST 7, 
1917, TO APRIL 23, 1919 

(Men whose names are marked with daggers left the Section 
at some time between these two dates; those whose names are 
marked with stars joined the outfit during this period.) 

*Abbot, John R. (Lieutenant) 

Ballantyne, Aubrey 
fBalmer, Daniel T. 
*Barnes, Henry W., Jr, 
fBates, Alfred E. 

Beecher, J. Wilfred 

Borden, Carlton E. 

Bowerman, Guy E., Jr. 

Bradley, Clarence I. 

Butler, George D. 

Campbell, Howard 

Clifford, Warren T. 
f Core, Carroll 

Crane, Harold O. 

Cunningham, William 
fDurant, Church 

Flint, WiUiam A. 

Googins, David S. 

Green, Kirby F. 
•j-Harper, Lester 
fHolbrook, Carl 

Houlihan, Leo J. 

Hubbard, Norman S. (Sergeant) 
f Johnstone, Henry W. (Sergeant) 

Larkin, Robert D. 

Larrabee, Lester H. 

Larsen, Yens 

Lewis, Arthur V. 



286 S. S. U. 585 

Lundgren, Erland A. (Sergeant) 

Lyman, Lauren D. 

Lynch, Cornelius A. 

Marcellus, Gilbert L. 

Perkins, Albert G. 

Peters, Derek C. C. 
f Peters, J. Wilton (Sergeant) 
*Potter, Howard P. 
*Roberts, Paul (Sergeant) 

Russell, Chester 
fShepard, Arthur M. 

Shively, George J. 

Sjostrom, Raymond B. 

Stevens, Gordon S. 
fThorpe, Harry 

Tremaine, Henry C. 
fVan Doren, F. C. 

Voorhees, Edwin H. 

Wasem, Louis, Jr. 

Wasilik, John 

Weber, James M, 
fWharton, James (Lieutenant) 
*Wylie, Robert S. 



W 88 
























A-" 



"P^ ^-^ * A^/^ • «5k 4) *'^ Deacidified using the Bookkeeper proce 

r» cjv *j(\CsC/^'o •^ yV* c.*^ Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 

^ "s * ^^^^^^:? * "^"^ . ^ Treatment Date: ^/(f 2001 

« v*"^^ °T^ n ^»- T«„K I, 

- «,^ ^, -^^ « ■^-'"'-'' 



^ %> ^^^K** J^ "^ ""^ PreservationTechnologif 

, ^ ** .. •* .0 ^ * A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PHESEnVATI 

,0"o^'<^ rtV .1'*^ 'V) 111 Thomson Park Drive 

,*,f<s. *^ ^ /•V t /v*5_ « »D Cranberry Township. PA 16066 










A^-^ 
4.^ \ 










..••■•>'. V'^-''/ %'^''\**'' V"^-"^"'/ 

,A^ l^P.- ^A^ \^g." /\ lJ^,V,- ^.v*^ -.^^ 

' e M o ' ,0 ''^ * # < -I ' o, »" 






BOOKBINDING B > ^ * 

Crani.ille Pa H j. 






jULV AUG 1989 



